TREASURY

Energy

Christopher Leslie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what costs were incurred by his Department's estate in respect of (a) gas and (b) electricity supply in the 2012-13 financial year.

Nicky Morgan: Departmental energy costs can be found in Treasury's annual report and accounts 2012-13, a copy of which has been deposited in the Library.

Excise Duties: Alcoholic Drinks

David Davies: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what estimate he has made of the cost to the Exchequer if all alcohol duty were frozen in 2014;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the effect of a freeze in alcohol duty in 2014 on consumption of (a) wine, (b) beer, (c) spirits and (d) cider;
	(3)  what estimate he has made on the cost to the Exchequer of scrapping the alcohol duty escalator and increasing the level of alcohol duty by inflation in the 2014 financial year.

Nicky Morgan: Budget 2013 cancelled the beer duty escalator so beer duty will rise by inflation only in 2014-15. Duties on wine, spirits and cider will rise by 2% above inflation in 2014-15. An indication of the effect on revenue and consumption of a 1% increase in duty in 2014-15 on all alcoholic drinks is presented in the following tables, taken from HMRC’s published ready reckoners.
	
		
			 Direct effects of illustrative changes—1% change 
			  Indicative level of current duty on a typical item 
			  2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 
			 Beer and cider duties    
			 Pint of beer: 46p 25 25 25 
			     
			 Wine duties    
			 75cl bottle of table wine: £1.90 30 35 35 
			     
			 Spirits duties    
			 70cl bottle of spirits: £7.27 20 20 20 
		
	
	
		
			 Exchequer impact 
			 £ million 
			  2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 
			 Beer -138.7 -141.9 -145.6 
			 Spirits -7.2 -7.6 -8.1 
			 Alcopops -0.2 -0.2 -0.2 
			 Cider -16.6 -17.5 -18.5 
			 Wine -4.9 -5.3 -5.7 
			 Note: Consumption impact: Quantities Product (000 hectolitre)

Excise Duties: Motor Vehicles

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much has accrued to the Exchequer through vehicle excise duty in each of the last five years.

Nicky Morgan: Out-turn figures for vehicle excise duty are published bi-annually in the autumn statement and Budget report:
	
		
			  £ billion 
			 2007-08 5.4 
			 2008-09 5.6 
			 2009-10 5.6 
			 2010-11 5.8 
			 2011-12 5.9

Financial Conduct Authority

Alun Cairns: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what specific targets his Department has put in place for the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA); how these targets are measured; what other steps his Department has put in place to monitor the FCA's performance; and if he will make a statement.

Sajid Javid: The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is operationally independent from Government and carries out is functions within the framework of statutory objectives and duties agreed by Parliament.
	In view of its independence the Treasury does not specify non-statutory operational targets for the FCA.
	Under the Financial Services Act 2012 (“the Act”) the FCA is required to prepare an annual report on its performance against its statutory objectives.
	The Act also makes the FCA subject to NAO audit with the associated ability of the NAO to launch VFM studies of the FCA.
	The Treasury has powers to appoint an independent person to conduct a review of the economy efficiency and effectiveness with which the FCA has used its resources in discharging its functions.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer to which department's capital departmental expenditure limit expenditure on High Speed 2 will be attributed.

Danny Alexander: The Government allocated an overall funding envelope for High Speed 2 of £42.6 billion for construction costs (£21.4 billion for Phase 1 and £21.2 billion for Phase 2) and £7.5 billion for rolling stock, in 2011 prices. The spending round 2013 also allocated a budget for High Speed 2 up until 2021. This sits within the Department for Transport's departmental expenditure limit.

Married Tax Allowance

Owen Smith: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the number of people in (a) Wales and (b) each other region of the UK will receive married tax allowance.

David Gauke: The estimated number of people that stand to gain from the married couples' transferable allowance in each region/country of the UK in 2015-16 is presented in the following table:
	
		
			 Region/country Number of people that stand to gain 
			 North East 195,000 
			 North West 455,000 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 370,000 
			 East Midlands 345,000 
			 West Midlands 365,000 
			 East of England 390,000 
			 London 420,000 
			 South East 490,000 
			 South West 405,000 
			 Wales 215,000 
			 Scotland 335,000 
			 Northern Ireland 125,000 
			   
			 All 4,110,000 
		
	
	These estimates are derived from the 2011-12 Family Resources Survey projected forward to 2015-16 using economic assumptions consistent with the Office for Budget Responsibility's March 2013 economic and fiscal outlook.

Performance Appraisal

Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of (a) disabled and (b) all other staff employed by his Department received each level of performance rating in their end of year performance assessment for 2012-13.

Nicky Morgan: The following table gives the proportion of (a) disabled and (b) all other staff employed in the Treasury by each level of performance rating in their end of year performance assessment for 2012-13.
	
		
			 Percentage 
			 Disability Box1(1) Box2(1) Box3(1) 
			 Yes 17 81 (2)— 
			 No 27 72 2 
			 Data not available 27 68 5 
			 (1) Box 1: Around 25% of strongest performers, Box 2: Around 65 to 70% of performers, Box 3: Significant shortcoming displayed during the year. (2) The disclosure of numbers where they amount to fewer than five could enable others to identify which individuals this information relates. This would amount to a release of their personal data in breach of the Data Protection Act. Section 40 of the Freedom of Information Act provides an absolute exemption for information in such circumstances.

Public Expenditure

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what Barnett consequentials for which projects have been paid to (a) Wales, (b) Scotland and (c) Northern Ireland in each year since 2010; what such payments are currently under discussion; and what amount of such payments has been agreed to be paid in each year to 2020.

Danny Alexander: The following table sets out capital Barnett consequentials resulting from policy decisions taken by the UK Government since the 2010 spending round.
	In addition capital allocations for 2015-16 were set out at spending round 2013. Any further Barnett consequentials, including allocations for years beyond 2015-16 will be announced in due course.
	
		
			 Scotland 
			 £million 
			 Fiscal event Project 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 
			 Budget 2011 University Technical Colleges 12.6 0.0 0.0 0.0 
			  First Buy 21.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 
			       
			 Autumn statement 2011 Highway Agency—additional motorway schemes (M6 J10A-13, M3 J2-3, road pinch point fund) — 1.5 14.0 21.5 
			  Additional LA major transport projects — 0.0 7.5 5.8 
			  Highway Agency reserve schemes (A45 tollbar and A453 widening) — 2.7 8.6 10.0 
			  M1/M6 J19 junction improvement — 0.5 3.1 6.0 
			  A14 J7-9 Kettering Bypass Widening — 0.1 2.3 6.1 
			  A14 alleviate pressures Huntingdon—Cambridge — 0.5 1.5 0.0 
			  Accelerate M25 J13-27 — 0.0 0.0 5.0 
			  Accelerate M1 J39-42 — 0.0 0.0 5.0 
			  New link road to Manchester airport — 0.9 5.0 5.6 
			  East-West rail project. New rail line from Oxford to Milton Keynes/Bedford — 0.0 0.0 2.1 
			  Rail winter resilience — 0.0 0.0 0.1 
			  Tackle local problems on the rail network more quickly — 0.0 0.0 0.8 
			  Electrification of trans-Pennine — 0.0 0.0 1.7 
		
	
	
		
			  Station accessibility improvements — 0.0 0.0 0.2 
			  Bridge renewals — 1.2 1.2 0.0 
			  Regional Growth Fund — 6.0 33.6 60.4 
			  100 free schools — 0.0 30.0 30.0 
			  Basic need capital — 29.0 17.5 13.5 
			  Housing: Get Britain Building (loan and equity) — 26.0 16.0 0.5 
			  Housing: Get Britain Building (expected income) — 0.0 -0.5 -4.0 
			  Housing: Empty Homes — 0.0 2.1 2.1 
			  Transport — 6.2 42.0 65.1 
			  Rail Infrastructure — 1.2 1.2 4.8 
			  Growth and Green — 6.0 33.6 60.4 
			  Education — 29.0 47.5 43.5 
			  Housing — 26.0 17.6 -1.4 
			       
			 Budget 2012 Get Britain Building — 9.3 5.7 -1.5 
			       
			 Autumn statement 2012 Empty Homes — 0.0 2.5 5.0 
			  Affordable housing — 0.0 5.0 17.6 
			  First Buy—interest subsidy — 4.2 23.9 0.0 
			  Private Rented pump priming (financial transactions) — 0.0 5.0 15.0 
			  Public land (NHS Trust Acquisitions) — 0.0 9.0 1.0 
			  Large scale development — 0.0 2.8 6.2 
			  Large scale development (financial transactions) — 0.0 4.2 9.3 
			  Public Land (Investment fund ) — 0.0 6.1 12.8 
			  Accelerate delivery of 4 road schemes — 0.0 5.0 4.5 
			  Roads pinch point fund — 0.0 9.5 17.5 
			  HA and LA road maintenance and renewal — 0.0 21.7 11.6 
			  Development funding for Highways Agency Pipeline — 0.0 1.7 2.5 
			  Cycling investment — 0.0 1.7 2.5 
			  A1 enhancements (Leeming to Barton) — 0.0 3.2 11.0 
			  A1 enhancements (Lobley Hill) — 0.0 0.2 1.3 
		
	
	
		
			  New A5-M1 link road — 0.0 2.6 6.8 
			  Dualling A30 Temple to Carblake — 0.0 0.0 0.8 
			  Basic need: c.100 new free schools, academies and 18,000 school places by expanding good schools in areas experiencing the greatest demographic pressures — 0.0 23.2 59.3 
			  Schools Maintenance — 0.0 0.0 15.7 
			  Regional Growth Fund 4 — 0.0 4.2 10.5 
			  Flood defences: fund full pipeline, inc. making land available for development in Leeds, Sheffield, Exeter, Derby, Ipswich — 0.0 3.5 8.5 
			  Enterprise Zones infrastructure funding — 0.0 2.5 3.4 
			  FE new building and maintenance — 0.4 19.1 1.7 
			  Start up loans—funding for 2 more years — 0.0 2.4 3.0 
			  AMSCII — 0.0 1.2 1.8 
			       
			 Budget 2013 First Buy — — 96.5 120.0 
			  Build to Rent — — 12.5 37.5 
			  Affordable Housing — — 0.0 10.5 
			  Start up Loans (Reserve funded) — — 0.8 1.5

Stamp Duty Land Tax

Bob Stewart: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his policy is on levying stamp duty on the sale of properties under £2 million.

David Gauke: The Government levies stamp duty land tax on properties below £2 million at the following rates:
	
		
			  Threshold 
			 Rate Residential property Non-residential property 
			 0% £0 - £125,000 £0 - £150,000(1) 
			 1% £125,001 - £250,000 £150,001 - £250,000 
			 3% £250,001 - £500,000 £250,001 - £500,000 
			 4% £500,001 - £1,000,000 Over £500,000 
			 5% £1,000,001 - £2,000,000 — 
			 (1)0% if annual rent is under £1,000; 1 % if annual rent is £1,000 or more.

VAT: Charities

Steve Rotheram: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the total value of VAT for sales of the Justice Collective's Christmas 2012 charity single.

David Gauke: No specific estimate has been made by HMRC of the total value of VAT for sales of the. Justice Collective's Christmas 2012 charity single. However, following discussions with the distributor, the Government has proposed a grant of £61,735 to LCVS (Liverpool Charity and Voluntary Services) as a result of its commitment to effectively waive VAT on sales of the Justice Collective's Christmas 2012 charity single.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Animal Experiments

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will bring forward proposals to repeal section 24 of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 in order to open animal experiments to the same level of accountability as that which government and other public bodies are already subject. [R]

James Brokenshire: We are presently reviewing section 24 of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (ASPA).
	Central to our work on openness and transparency is the review we are undertaking of section 24 which provides for the protection of confidential information provided in connection with our regulatory activities under ASPA. A breach of section 24 can result in criminal sanctions. The requirements of section 24 are now out of step with our policy on openness and transparency and with the approach taken in other legislation, such as the Freedom of Information Act 2000. The solution we develop must improve the overall transparency surrounding research using animals while protecting personal identities and intellectual property and commercial competitiveness.

Arrest Warrants

Dominic Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many European arrest warrants the UK (a) issued and (b) received in (i) 2012 and (ii) 2013 to date.

Mark Harper: holding answer 13 September 2013
	I have been informed by the National Crime Agency (NCA) that 271 European arrest warrants (EAWs) were issued and 6,290 EAWs were received by the UK in 2012.
	From 1 January 2013 to 31 March 2013, NCA issued 47 and received 1,513 EAWs.
	Data from April 2013 onwards are in the process of being validated.

Crime: Cumbria

John Woodcock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  what proportion of thefts from motor vehicles committed in (a) Barrow and Furness constituency and (b) Cumbria were cleared up by police in each of the last three years;
	(2)  what proportion of sexual offences committed in (a) Barrow and Furness constituency and (b) Cumbria were cleared up by police in each of the last three years;
	(3)  what proportion of violent offences committed in (a) Barrow and Furness constituency and (b) Cumbria were cleared up by police in each of the last three years.

Norman Baker: holding answer 25 October 2013
	The detection rates for the offences requested are shown for each of the last three years in the Cumbria Police force area in the following table. These include those offences that were detected by means of a charge/summons, caution, fixed penalty notice, offences taken into consideration (TIC), or a non-sanction detection.
	The data are not available at a lower geographical level than this, and so data for the Barrow and Furness constituency cannot be obtained.
	
		
			 Detection rates by offence type, Cumbria police force area, 2010-11 to 2012-13 
			 Percentage of offences detected 
			  2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 
			 Theft from a vehicle 7 7 5 
			 Sexual offences 33 36 31 
			 Violence against the person 59 54 52

Crime: Cumbria

John Woodcock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of burglaries in (a) Barrow and Furness constituency and (b) Cumbria were cleared up by police in each of the last three years.

Norman Baker: holding answer 28 October 2013
	The detection rates for burglaries are shown for each of the last three years in the Cumbria police force area in the following table. These include those offences that were detected by means of a charge/summons, caution, fixed penalty notice, offences taken into consideration (TIC), or a non-sanction detection.
	The data are not available at a lower geographical level than this, and so data for the Barrow and Furness constituency cannot be obtained.
	
		
			 Burglary detection rates, Cumbria police force area, 2010-11 to 2012-13 
			  Percentage of offences detected 
			 2010-11 20 
			 2011-12 15 
			 2012-13 13 
			 Note: Includes both domestic and non-domestic burglaries.

Entry Clearances: Foreign Workers

James Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Tier 5 visas have been issued to people previously in receipt of Tier 5 visas in each of the last three years; and which organisation issued each certificate of sponsorship.

Mark Harper: holding answer 25 October 2013
	The information you have requested is not available in the format requested and can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
	However, as part of its commitment to transparency, the Home Office publishes immigration statistics annually and quarterly on both Tier 5 visas issued and extensions.
	You may find the quarterly Home Office Immigration Statistics April to June 2013 helpful, and in particular the before entry table ‘be 04 q’ and extensions table ‘ex 01 q’, which can be found at the following website:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-april-to-june-2013/immigration-statistics-april-to-june-2013#work-1

EU Justice and Home Affairs

Jacob Rees-Mogg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  what the cost to the public purse has been of compliance with Council Decision 2003/170/JHA in each of the last five years;
	(2)  how many times UK liaison officers have (a) provided and (b) received information pursuant to Council Decision 2003/170/JHA in each of the last five years;
	(3)  how many times UK authorities, including the Government but not including liaison officers, have (a) provided and (b) received information pursuant to Council Decision 2003/170/JHA in each of the last five years;
	(4)  how many times UK liaison officers have (a) provided and (b) received assistance pursuant to Article 4(2) of Council Decision 2003/170/JHA in each of the last five years;
	(5)  whether Council Decision 2003/170/JHA, as amended, gave rise to the introduction of any legislative proposals; and what such changes were;
	(6)  whether the Government will seek to continue the co-operation established by Council Decision 2003/170/JHA, as amended, if the UK ceases to be bound by that Council Decision pursuant to Article 10 of the Protocol on Transitional Provisions annexed to the EU treaties; what operational and legislative measures would be needed to continue this co-operation; and what assessment she has made of whether this co-operation will continue to be possible.

James Brokenshire: holding answer 21 October 2013
	The UK Government has co-operated with international partners on serious and organised crime for many years and will continue to do so both through the newly formed National Crime Agency (NCA) and other UK authorities. Joint working and law enforcement co-operation occurs on a regular basis between UK officers, government officials and our partners from other member states and third countries. Council Decision 2003/170/JHA as amended by Council Decision 2006/560/JHA formalised this cooperation. Council Decision 2003/170/JHA did not give rise to any legislative proposals.
	As the UK has opted out of this measure, it is important to note that on 1 December 2014, the UK will have the power to change operational practices if required. At the moment, the Government is content with the arrangements in place and has no plans to do so.
	Details of the number of times information and assistance was exchanged by Liaison Officers and UK authority under the measure in the last five years is not held centrally. As of July 2013 (the last time this data was collated), neither the NCA (nor its predecessor the Serious Organised Crime Agency) and HM Revenue and Customs have neither received, nor made, any requests under this measure. There have been no costs to UK public funds over the last five years for complying with this Council Decision.

EU Justice and Home Affairs

Jacob Rees-Mogg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  how many searches authorities of other EU member states have carried out on the UK's fingerprint database in each of the last five years under Article 9 of Council Decision 2008/615/JHA; how many of these searches resulted in a match; in how many of these cases the UK provided the relevant foreign authority with further information following a match; and what action the relevant foreign authority took in each case on the basis of finding such a match or receiving such further information;
	(2)  how many searches of UK vehicle registration data authorities other EU member states have carried out in each of the last five years under Article 12 of Council Decision 2008/615/JHA; how many of those searches resulted in a match; and what action the relevant foreign authority took in each such case on the basis of finding such a match;
	(3)  how many searches UK authorities have carried out on the fingerprint databases of other EU member states in each of the last five years under Article 9 of Council Decision 2008/615/JHA; how many of those searches resulted in a match; in how many of those cases the UK received further information from the relevant foreign authority following a match; and what action UK authorities took in each case on the basis of finding such a match or receiving further information;
	(4)  how many searches of vehicle registration data of another EU member state UK authorities have carried out in each of the last five years under Article 12 of Council Decision 2008/615/JHA; how many of those searches resulted in a match; and what action UK authorities took in each such case on the basis of finding such a match;
	(5)  how many times the UK has (a) received information from and (b) provided information to other EU member states as a result of Articles 13 and 14 of Council Decision 2008/615/JHA in each of the last five years; and what assessment she has made of the role such information played in preventing crime and disorder in each case;
	(6)  how many searches authorities of other EU member states have carried out on the UK's DNA database under (a) Article 3 and (b) Article 4 of Council Decision 2008/615/JHA in each of the last five years; how many of those searches resulted in a match; in how many of those cases the UK provided the relevant foreign authority with further information following such a match; and what action the relevant foreign authority took in each case on the basis of finding such a match or receiving further information;
	(7)  how many times UK authorities have collected a DNA sample and supplied it to another EU member state due to a request under Article 7 of Council Decision 2008/615/JHA; in how many cases the person whose DNA was being obtained was a British national; and what action the relevant foreign authority took in each case using the sample provided;
	(8)  how many times UK authorities have obtained a DNA sample from another EU member state using the provisions of Article 7 of Council Decision 2008/615/ JHA in each of the last five years; and what action UK authorities took in each case using the sample provided;
	(9)  how many searches UK authorities have carried out on the DNA databases of other EU member states under (a) Article 3 and (b) Article 4 of the Council Decision 2008/615/JHA in each of the last five years; how many of those searches resulted in a match; in how many of these cases the UK received further information from the relevant foreign authority following a match; and what action the UK authorities took in each case on the basis of finding a match or receiving further information.

James Brokenshire: holding answer 22 October 2013
	The UK has not implemented Articles 3, 4, 7n, 9e or 12 of Council Decision 2008/615/JHA and no information has been exchanged as a result. The UK has implemented Article 13 and 14 administratively but no requests for information have been received.

EU Justice and Home Affairs

Jacob Rees-Mogg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  in how many cases UK authorities have co-operated with the authorities of another EU member state owing to the provisions of Article 9(2) of Council Framework Decision 2002/475/JHA, as amended in each of the last five years; what the substance and outcome of such co-operation was in each case; whether the Government intends to maintain such co-operation unchanged if the UK ceases to be bound by this Framework Decision pursuant to Article 10 of the Protocol on Transitional Provisions annexed to the EU treaties; how such co- operation would be maintained; and what assessment she has made of whether this would be at least as efficacious as UK participation in the Framework Decision;
	(2)  what requirements of Council Framework Decision 2002/475/JHA the UK (a) has and (b) has not implemented.

James Brokenshire: holding answer 23 October 2013
	Information is not held centrally on the number of cases arising from the provisions in Article 9(2). The UK does not need to rely on Article 9(2) of Council Framework Decision 2002/475/JHA (as amended) to co-operate with member states in. deciding where prosecution should take place where the offence under investigation falls within the jurisdiction of more than one member state.
	Existing UK law goes further than the requirements of Framework Decision 2002/475/JHA (as amended) in most respects. The UK takes extra territorial jurisdiction for the majority of terrorism offences required by the Framework Decision, with the exception of encouragement and training offences in the Terrorism Act 2006.
	As the UK has opted out of this measure, the UK will not be required to legislate in regards to the Framework Decision. It is important to note that on 1 December 2014 the UK will have the power to change legislation on this matter in our Parliament. At the moment, the Government has no intention to bring forward any new proposals or change current UK law or practice.

EU Justice and Home Affairs

Jacob Rees-Mogg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  in how many cases in each of the last five years the UK has co-operated with other EU member states owing to Article 7(2) of Council Framework Decision 2008/841/JHA; what the substance and outcome of such co-operation was in each case; whether the Government intends to maintain such co-operation unchanged if the UK ceases to be bound by this Framework Decision pursuant to Article 10 of the Protocol on Transitional Provisions annexed to the EU treaties; how such co-operation would be maintained; and what assessment she has made of the whether this would be at least as efficacious as UK participation in the Framework Decision;
	(2)  which requirements of Council Framework Decision 2008/841/JHA are implemented by the UK;
	(3)  whether the Government intends to retain without change existing provisions of UK law and practice required by Council Framework Decision 2008/841/JHA, if the UK ceases to be bound by that Framework Decision pursuant to Article 10 of the Protocol on Transitional Provisions annexed to the EU treaties.

James Brokenshire: holding answer 24 October 2013
	Council Framework Decision 2008/841/JHA sets minimum penalties for certain offences related to organised crime. All requirements of the Framework Decision have been met through existing domestic law.
	Where conflicts of jurisdiction arise it is open to UK prosecutors to resolve the matter with their EU counterparts directly or refer the matter to Eurojust, the EU's judicial cooperation Agency. We hold no information centrally on how often conflicts falling within the scope of.
	Article 7(2) have arisen and how they have been resolved. We assess that there will be no drop in the effectiveness of resolving such conflicts through not being bound by this measure.
	As the UK has opted out of this measure, on 1 December 2014 the UK will have the power to change legislation on this matter in our Parliament.

EU Justice and Home Affairs

Jacob Rees-Mogg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  which requirements of Council Framework Decision 2008/913/JHA are implemented by the UK;
	(2)  whether the Government intends to retain without change existing provisions of UK law and practice required by Council Framework Decision 2008/913/JHA, if the UK ceases to be bound by that Framework Decision pursuant to Article 10 of the Protocol on Transitional Provisions annexed to the EU treaties;
	(3)  what new provisions of law or practice the UK would need to introduce if it remained bound by Council Framework Decision 2008/913/JHA after 1 December 2014.

James Brokenshire: holding answer 24 October 2013
	The UK meets all the requirements of the Framework Decision through existing domestic law. We have no specific criminal offences of publicly condoning, denying or grossly trivialising crimes of genocide; crimes against humanity; war crimes; and crimes against peace when carried out in a manner likely to incite to violence or hatred (as referred to in Article 1 (1) (c) and (d) of the Framework Decision). Any conduct that seeks to incite violence or hatred however is likely to amount to an offence under existing incitement to hatred legislation in the UK.
	As the UK has opted out of this measure, there is no likelihood that the UK will need to legislate further around Article 1. It is important to note that on 1 December 2014 the UK will have the power to change legislation on this matter in our Parliament. At the moment, there is currently no intention to change provisions of UK law.

Firearms: Licensing

Steve Rotheram: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many firearms license applications have been rejected on the grounds of a history of (a) domestic violence, (b) violent conduct and (c) drug or alcohol abuse in each of the last five years; if she will investigate trends of such refusals; and if she will publish the results of such an investigation in the Library.

Damian Green: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 22 October 2013, Official Report, column 92W. There are no plans to investigate trends of such refusals.

Hilal Abdul-Razzaq Ali al-Jedda

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of the Supreme Court's decision in the case of Hilal Abdul-Razzaq Ali al-Jedda; and if she will make a statement.

Mark Harper: holding answer 25 October 2013
	I was disappointed with the Supreme Court's decision of 9 October 2013. We are now considering the judgment and our next steps in the case carefully. It would be inappropriate to make any further statement at this stage.

Human Trafficking: Victims

Naomi Long: To ask the secretary of State for the Home Department how many residence permits have been granted to persons conclusively recognised as victims of trafficking by the National Referral Mechanism in (a) the UK and (b) Northern Ireland in each year since its implementation; and how many of those permits were issued due to the victim’s personal circumstances.

Mark Harper: The information requested can be found in Table 1 which shows the number of individuals who were conclusively found to be victims of trafficking and who were granted some form of leave. This includes grants of asylum, humanitarian protection and discretionary leave.
	
		
			 Table 1: Grants of leave to conclusive victims of trafficking (VOT), 1 April 2009 and 19 August 2013, United Kingdom and Northern Ireland 
			 Case Outcome VOT (Conclusive Grounds) 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 
			 Granted a form of leave in the United Kingdom (UK) 20 50 85 130 120 
			 Granted a form of leave in Northern Ireland (NI) 0 * 5 5 0 
			 Notes: 1. The figures quoted have been derived from management information and are therefore provisional and subject to change. This information has not been quality assured under National Statistics .protocols. 2. Figures relate to main applicants only. 3. Figures for 2013 cover the period from 1 January to 19 August 2013. 4. Northern Ireland figures are based on the last known address of the applicant. Consequently individuals who have relocated will not be included. 5. Figures rounded to the nearest 5 (* = 1 or 2) and may not sum to the totals shown because of independent rounding.

Immigration: Public Consultation

Fiona Mactaggart: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many responses her Department's recent consultation on immigration and private rented housing received; and how many such responses were from people who are currently acting as landlords.

Mark Harper: The Home Office has recently concluded a public consultation on requiring landlords to check the immigration status of new private tenants. The consultation report includes statistical information on the profile of respondents, including the total number of responses received and the percentage of responses from landlords. The report can be found on the www.gov.uk website at this location:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/249616/Consultation_Response.pdf

Modern Day Slavery Bill (Draft)

Michael Connarty: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans she has for pre-legislative scrutiny of her Department's proposed Modern Day Slavery Bill.

James Brokenshire: holding answer 25 October 2013
	The Secretary of State for the Home Department, my right hon. Friend the Member for Maidenhead (Mrs May), has announced her intention to publish a draft Bill in December. Arrangements for pre-legislative scrutiny are in train and will be confirmed in due course.

Sexual Offences

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what targets, key performance indicators and command objectives the Metropolitan Police has with regards to (a) rape and (b) sexual offences; whether those targets differed between 2011-12 and 2012-13; and how the Metropolitan Police performed against these in (i) 2011-12 and (ii) 2012-13.

Damian Green: The Secretary of State has not set targets for the Metropolitan police on rape or sexual offences. This Government has removed centrally imposed targets on the police and replaced them with one clear objective—to cut crime. Policing priorities in London are set by the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC), through the Police and Crime Plan, and it is MOPAC's responsibility to hold the Metropolitan police to account for delivery against the priorities set out in the plan.

ATTORNEY-GENERAL

Charities Act 2006

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Attorney-General what reports the Law Officers' Departments have laid before each House of Parliament pursuant to section 70(9) of the Charities Act 2006 in 2012-13.

Oliver Heald: None.

Corruption: Public Service

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Attorney-General how many people have been prosecuted for (a) bribery of foreign public officials and (b) failure to prevent such bribery since July 2011.

Oliver Heald: The Serious Fraud Office has started proceedings against 14 individuals for bribery of foreign officials since July 2011. All of these relate to pre-Bribery Act offences.
	There have been no prosecutions for failing to prevent bribery of foreign officials in this period.

Fraud: Prosecutions

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Attorney-General how many fraud cases have been (a) referred to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) for a charging decision, (b) subject to a decision by the CPS to take no further action, (c) subject to a CPS decision to be cautioned, (d) prosecuted, (e) prosecuted successfully and (f) prosecuted successfully where the defendant contested the charge in each of the last five years.

Oliver Heald: CPS prosecutions are categorised according to 12 principal offence categories. These categorises are assigned at the end of a prosecution to indicate the most serious offence with which a defendant is charged at the time of finalisation. Details for prosecutions where the principal offence category was Fraud and Forgery are as follows:
	
		
			   Convictions  Convictions in contested cases 
			  Number of prosecutions Number % Contested Cases Number % 
			 2008-09 14,353 12,919 90.0 1,111 874 78.7 
			 2009-10 14,116 12,413 87.9 1,191 862 72.4 
			 2010-11 14,177 12,346 87.1 1,309 958 73.2 
			 2011-12 13,638 11,756 86.2 1,501 1,114 74.2 
			 2012-13 18,555 16,053 86.5 1,759 1,220 69.4 
		
	
	As the principal offence category is assigned to the electronic record at the end of the prosecution case, it is not possible to provide information for the number of Fraud and Forgery categorised cases referred to the CPS for a charging decision or the outcome of those charging decisions.

Human Trafficking: Prosecutions

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Attorney-General how many human trafficking-flagged cases have been (a) referred to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) for a charging decision, (b) subject to a decision by the CPS to take no further action, (c) subject to a CPS decision to be cautioned, (d) prosecuted, (e) prosecuted successfully and (f) prosecuted successfully where the defendant contested the charge in each of the last five years.

Oliver Heald: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) maintains a central record of the numbers of cases involving human trafficking by way of a database monitoring flag applied to the electronic case record. Collection of this information commenced from 1 April 2010.
	The following table shows the number of human trafficking flagged cases referred to the CPS for a pre-charge decision (PCD) and the number of suspects where a decision to charge, take no further action or to issue an out of court disposal, including a caution, was made:
	
		
			  Number of Human Trafficking Flagged PCDs Decision to Charge Out of court Disposal (including caution) No further action 
			 2010-11 163 98 0 32 
			 2011-12 113 83 0 11 
			 2012-13 131 91 0 23 
		
	
	The following table sets out the number of human trafficking flagged prosecutions and their outcomes for the periods since flagging began:
	
		
			   Convictions  Convictions in Contested Cases 
			  Number of Prosecutions Number % Contested Cases Number % 
			 2010-11 103 73 70.9 27 16 59.3 
			 2011-12 142 94 66.2 22 12 54.5 
			 2012-13 139 99 71.2 34 27 79.4

Police: Surveillance

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Attorney-General what the policy of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is on seeking prosecution of police officers accused of crimes whilst working undercover; whether the CPS is taking steps to examine whether there is adequate evidence to charge Bob Lambert in relation to actions undertaken whilst operating undercover for the Metropolitan Police; and if he will make a statement.

Oliver Heald: Where it is suspected that police officers have committed crimes while working undercover, the police, or the Independent Police Complaints Commission, will carry out a full investigation. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) will review any cases referred to it by the police in accordance with the two stage test that is set out in the Code for Crown Prosecutors. Where there is sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction and a prosecution is required in the public interest, such cases will be prosecuted.
	As a matter of general policy, the CPS will neither confirm nor deny whether an individual is or was an undercover officer. The CPS works closely with officers conducting investigations into the conduct of undercover officers.

Prosecutions

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Attorney-General what the findings were of the Director of Public Prosecutions' inquiry into falling referrals for charge in case of rape, domestic violence and child abuse; if he will place those findings in the Library; and if he will make a statement.

Oliver Heald: Improving the approach to violence against women and girls prosecutions continues to be a key priority for the Crown Prosecution Service. (CPS). The CPS Annual Violence Against Women and Girls Crime Report for 2012-13:
	http://www.cps.gov.uk/publications/docs/cps_vawg_report_2013.pdf
	outlines that three out of four prosecutions for violence against women and girls now result in a conviction and that conviction rates for domestic violence and rape are at their highest recorded levels. The report also outlines falls in the numbers of flagged cases of domestic violence, rape and child abuse referred from the police to the CPS for a charging decision.
	On 26 September 2013, the Director of Public Prosecutions met with representatives from the Home Office, National Policing leads for rape and domestic violence and other interested parties to consider the possible reasons for the reduction in the referral rate. The following six actions were agreed at the meeting:
	1. Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary to share the Terms of Reference of its inspection into the effectiveness of the police response to domestic violence and abuse across England and Wales, and to ensure close liaison with the CPS and the Attorney-General's Office (AGO). The findings from the inspection are due to report by April 2014.
	2. That the Home Office, CPS and AGO liaise closely with the Ministry of Justice on its work to review the use of out of court disposals in the context of violence against women and girls cases; and that the Home Office and the National Policing lead for domestic violence to build an evidence base on any police use of out of court disposals and community resolutions for violence against women and girls.
	3. That the CPS investigates further the proportion of violence against women and girls cases being charged across police force areas.
	4. That the Home Office provide information about the provision of Independent Domestic Violence Advisers and their contribution to successful criminal justice outcomes.
	5. That the CPS and the National Policing lead for rape convene a joint-National Scrutiny Panel to further investigate the fall in the number of rape cases referred. The findings will be published at the earliest opportunity.
	6. That the CPS and Home Office work with National Policing leads and Police and Crime Commissioners to continue to raise awareness about violence against women and girls and provide further guidance on domestic violence cases where the victim has indicated that they are not willing to support the prosecution.

Serious Fraud Office

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Attorney-General pursuant to the answer of 14 October 2013, Official Report, column 440W, on Serious Fraud Office, which closed investigations of the Serious Fraud Office were authorised by (a) Richard Alderman, (b) Phillippa Williamson and (c) the Tactical Tasking and Coordination Group.

Oliver Heald: Of the 58 cases accepted for investigation between 2008 and 2012, four of those accepted for investigation by Richard Alderman are now closed; 21 of those accepted by Phillippa Williamson are now closed; eight of those accepted by the Tactical Tasking and Coordination Group are now closed. A further 25 cases remain open.
	Of those cases which were tried, those relating to D J Litt; Steele, Shephard and Pattinson; and Kallakis and Williams were accepted by Phillippa Williamson. A further case, relating to Amec plc, which resulted in a civil recovery order, was also accepted by Phillippa Williamson.
	It would not be appropriate to give further details about other cases. This is to protect the investigatory process, and to avoid any prejudice to current or future investigations.

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Bellwin Scheme

Steve Rotheram: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many applications for Bellwin Scheme funding have been rejected by his Department since May 2010; and who made each unsuccessful application.

Brandon Lewis: No formal applications for Bellwin Scheme funding have been rejected since May 2010.

Empty Property: Shops

Bob Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps he is taking to bring empty retail premises back into use; and what funding his Department has provided for this purpose since May 2010.

Brandon Lewis: We have cut small business rates and given councils a financial incentive to support high streets. Changes to planning rules mean that it is now easier to change the use of buildings. Consultation closed earlier this month on further relaxations of planning rules to make it easier to bring empty and underused buildings back to life, revitalising high streets and providing much-needed homes. We have also confirmed our intention to amend the Community Infrastructure Levy Regulations to make it easier to bring vacant shops and other town centre units back into use without becoming liable for the levy. These changes will help town centre landlords make better use of their empty properties, get more start-up businesses set up in the high street, and see a third of a million small businesses paying no rates at all.
	In addition, Government has provided communities across the country with a multi-million pound package of support so they can try new ideas to drive their local economy. Beyond the Portas Pilots and Town Team Partners, who shared over £5.6 million, Government has invested £10 million through the High Street Innovation Fund in the 100 areas with the highest empty property rates and those affected by the riots, and £1 million of High Street Renewal Awards. This is alongside more than £115 million of Government funding to boost enterprise and initiate business start ups.
	Government has also committed £235 million of direct funding, to help local authorities, housing associations and community groups tackle the most problematic empty properties, which would not otherwise come back into use. The last funding round had a particular emphasis on refurbishing former commercial and high street properties.
	We are working with an industry-led taskforce to explore distressed commercial property and its causes. This is due to publish its report soon. Finally, we established the Future High Streets Forum which is advising the Government how better use could be made of existing buildings, including with pop up shops.

Fire Services: Pensions

Bob Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he has made of the average cost to individual members of implementation of his proposed changes to the Firefighters' Pension Scheme.

Brandon Lewis: No estimate has been made of the average costs or benefits to individual members of implementation of the proposed changes to the firefighters' pension schemes, which will vary significantly according to their circumstances. Over half of all firefighters will see no change in their retirement age and a greater proportion of firefighters are being protected from the change in normal pension age than in any other large public sector work force.
	The Government has published a pension calculator to allow firefighters to work out their pension changes. The calculator can be found at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/firefighters-pension-scheme-reforms-pension-scheme-calculator

Housing: Construction

Graham Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the effect on house building of his plans to transfer £400 million of New Homes Bonus funding to local enterprise partnerships;
	(2)  whether the £400 million which is being transferred from local authorities' New Homes Bonus funds into local enterprise partnerships budgets will be counted as local authority budget cuts.

Kris Hopkins: The proposal for local authorities to pool a proportion of their New Homes Bonus in 2015-16 was the subject of a technical consultation carried out between July and September this year. That consultation set out our expectation that authorities would receive the New Homes Bonus they had earned, and that pooling would be local. We are currently considering the responses to the consultation and will announce a way forward in due course.
	Government support and investment in housing is having an effect. Housing supply is now at its highest since 2008, with 334,000 new homes built over the last three years. In the most recent quarter, housing starts are up by 33% on last year.

Mortgage Repossessions (Protection of Tenants etc) Act 2010

Graham Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many households have used the provisions of the Mortgage Repossessions (Protections of Tenants) Act 2010 since its implementation.

Kris Hopkins: The published impact assessment supporting the legislation estimated that between 5,000 and 20,000 tenants would be protected from short notice eviction between 2010 and 2020. The impact assessment is available from the Library of the House.
	Her Majesty's Courts Service do not collect data on the number of court hearings under the Mortgage Repossessions (Protections of Tenants) Act 2010. Most tenants will have benefited from the legislation without attending court.

Second Homes: Cumbria

John Woodcock: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent estimate he has made of the number of second homes in the (a) Barrow-in-Furness and (b) South Lakeland council areas.

Brandon Lewis: In October 2012 Barrow-in-Furness council reported there were 370 dwellings registered as second homes for council tax purposes. At the same time, 3,824 dwellings in South Lakeland were registered as second homes.
	The data are from a snapshot taken each year and are as recorded by each local authority in the Council Tax Base returns submitted annually to the Department for Communities and Local Government.
	Information for October 2013 will be published on the
	www.gov.uk
	website in November 2013.

BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS

Arms Trade: Egypt

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills pursuant to the answer of 15 October 2013, Official Report, column 667W, on Egypt, if he will publish (a) summary descriptions of the goods that may be transferred and (b) information regarding any limits placed on the end users within Egypt for each extant open export and trade licences for transfers of controlled goods to Egypt.

Michael Fallon: Annual report summary descriptions for all extant licences will be placed in the Libraries of the House. There may be duplication with some annual report summaries, as the information has been downloaded from extant licences on a live system and then merged as much as possible to reduce the length of this response.
	No open licences have had their coverage reduced as a result of the suspension mechanism being introduced. Open licences of concern have been suspended outright.

Business: Regulation

Bob Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what progress he has made on implementing the recommendations of Cut the Red Tape: Report from the Business Taskforce.

Michael Fallon: The Business Taskforce presented its report to Cabinet on 15 October. The Prime Minister hosted a meeting on 25 October in Brussels with Commission President Barroso and a group of other EU leaders, at which taskforce members presented their report. The European Council explicitly welcomed the steps taken by member states to identify excessively burdensome legislation, and agreed on the need for further substantial efforts to reduce the burden of EU regulation. It will return to this subject at its meeting in June. The Government will continue to press the EU to implement the recommendations in the taskforce report and to move faster to reform the way it regulates.

Conditions of Employment

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether he has received a timescale from the Head of the Office for National Statistics as to when a new regular estimate of zero-hour contracts will be published; and when statistics under this estimate will be available.

Jo Swinson: The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has opened a consultation on its planned collection of zero hours contract statistics from employers on its website on 23 October 2013. This consultation will close on 12 November 2013. In the consultation document, the ONS states that full-scale data collection on zero hours contracts will commence on its selected employer survey in February 2014, if an earlier pilot study proves successful.
	Early results from this February data collection will be presented in March 2013.
	The consultation can be viewed at:
	http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/about-ons/get-involved/consultations/consultations/zero-hours-consultation/index.html

Conditions of Employment

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what representations he has made to the head of the Office for National Statistics on the production of statistics so that the scale and efect of the use of zero-hour contracts in the (a) health and care sectors, (b) retail sector, (c) hospitality sector and (d) construction sector can be studied and considered.

Jo Swinson: On 16 October 2013 the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, my right hon. Friend the Member for Twickenham (Vince Cable), wrote to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) making clear his concern about the lack of reliable statistics available on zero hours contracts. He asked the ONS, working with officials from other Government Departments, to:
	consider ONS and other non-ONS sources of statistics on zero hours contracts, commenting on their strengths and weaknesses so that a clear and comprehensive picture of the available statistical information in this area is made public, and
	determine how the different estimates (e.g. from ONS outputs from the Labour Force Survey and the forthcoming ONS business survey) are described, and that the differences between the statistics are clearly explained, including information on margins of error around the statistics.
	The ONS has launched a public consultation about the collection on zero hours contracts statistics on an existing employer survey. The consultation asks respondents to comment on what data on zero hours contracts they would find useful, including industry breakdowns. The consultation closes on 12 November 2013.
	BIS has yet to decide how it will respond to the consultation, but is likely to request that ONS provides statistics on zero hours contracts by broad industry level.

Conditions of Employment

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will request that the head of the Office for National Statistics produces (a) regional, (b) local and (c) parliamentary constituency statistics for zero-hours contracts.

Jo Swinson: The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has opened a consultation on its planned collection of zero hours contract statistics from employers on its website on 23 October 2013. This consultation will close on 12 November 2013. In the consultation document, the ONS asks about the type of categories that the statistics could be usefully presented for.
	The consultation can be viewed at
	http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/about-ons/get-involved/consultations/consultations/zero-hours-consultation/index.html
	The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has yet to decide how it will respond to the consultation, but is likely to request that ONS provides statistics on zero hours contracts at the country level.
	It is unlikely to request that ONS produce statistics on zero hours contracts at the regional, local authority or parliamentary constituency level, as the cost of such collection would be prohibitive relative to any added value they would provide when considering the policy issues.

Degrees

John Denham: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills pursuant to his answers of 10 October 2013, Official Report, columns 364-6W and 18 October 2013, Official Report, column 876W, if he will estimate the average annual cost in 2014-15 of a (a) full-time two year degree taught at a further education college, (b) full-time two year degree taught at an English higher education institution (HEI), (c) full-time three year degree taught at an English HEI and (d) four year degree taught at an English HEI.

David Willetts: Estimates of the average annual cost in 2014-15 are not available at the level of detail requested. The answer provided on 10 October 2013 made use of several existing estimates for typical undergraduates which cannot be readily adjusted for specific subsets of students.

Green Investment Bank

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent discussions he has had with officials from the Green Investment Bank on that bank's ability to borrow.

Michael Fallon: The Department remains in close consultation with the Green Investment Bank about its funding needs including the bank's ability to borrow. Ministers and officials discussed these matters with the bank in the context of the recent spending review decision to allocate an additional £800 million to the bank for the 2015-16 period with scope to borrow up to £500 million of that allocation from the National Loans Fund.

Green Investment Bank

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent discussions he has had with officials from the Green Investment Bank on EU state aid restrictions.

Michael Fallon: BIS officials work closely with the Green Investment Bank and discuss a range of matters, including possible amendments to the bank's state aid approval. A renewed approval will be required for the bank to operate beyond October 2016 and before then the UK must also obtain further Commission approval for the additional funds it proposes to allocate to the bank for the 2015-16 period. The UK must also obtain further Commission approvals if it wishes to include additional sectors within the bank's approved remit.

Green Investment Bank

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent discussions he has had with EU officials on state aid restrictions on the Green Investment Bank.

Michael Fallon: Officials have now begun discussing with the European Commission possible amendments to the GIB state approval including the UK's proposal to allocate a further £800 million of funding to the bank for the 2015-16 period in addition to the £3 billion of state funding the Commission has already approved.

Overseas Trade: Asia

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what the level of (a) exports and (b) imports between the UK and its top 20 trading partners in Asia was in each of the last five years by sector.

Michael Fallon: The information will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

Overseas Trade: China

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what the level of (a) exports and (b) imports between the UK and China was in each of the last five years by sector.

Michael Fallon: Figures on UK trade in goods with China since 2008, broken down by commodity traded, are in Table 1 as follows. The data are sourced from Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) Overseas Trade Statistics database and are publicly available on the UK Trade Info website:
	www.uktradeinfo.com
	Data by sector (industry) are not available as bilateral trade in goods statistics are only published in terms of commodities.
	2011 and 2012 data on UK trade in services with China, by type of service, are given in Table 2, taken from the latest (2013) ONS ‘Pink Book’ publication. Data for 2008-2010 are available from Tables 9.10 and 9.11 of previous editions of the Pink Book which can be downloaded from the link below:
	http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/bop/united-kingdom-balance-of-payments/index.html
	
		
			 Table 1: UK trade in goods with China 
			 Value (£ million) 
			  2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 
			 UK exports to China:      
			 SITC1      
			 0 - Food and live animals 107 97 60 46 36 
			 1 - Beverages and tobacco 83 78 61 51 50 
			 2 - Crude materials, inedible, except fuels 1,413 1,598 1,200 945 823 
			 3 - Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials 19 86 83 28 24 
			 4 - Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes 1 2 1 2 1 
			 5 - Chemicals and related products, nes 1,253 1,094 895 755 562 
			 6 - Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material 592 679 557 511 625 
			 7 - Machinery and transport equipment 5,675 4,423 3,784 2,354 2,313 
			 8 - Miscellaneous manufactured articles 704 704 579 431 433 
			 9 - Commodities/transactions not class'd elsewhere in SITC 45 11 5 4 3 
			 Total 9,892 8,772 7,225 5,129 4,870 
		
	
	
		
			 UK Imports from China:      
			 SITC1 479 489 426 341 348 
			 0 - Food and live animals 24 25 19 23 19 
			 1 - Beverages and tobacco 240 242 239 194 214 
			 2 - Crude materials, inedible, except fuels 7 48 18 8 53 
			 3 - Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials 19 12 7 8 6 
			 4 - Animal & vegetable oils, fats and waxes 1,250 1,235 1,006 737 810 
			 5 - Chemicals and related products, nes 4,688 4,852 4,308 3,316 3,752 
			 6 - Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material 11,162 11,149 10,258 8,037 7,297 
			 7 - Machinery and transport equipment 11,954 11,870 11,637 9,871 9,265 
			 8 - Miscellaneous manufactured articles 198 233 310 335 204 
			 9 - Commodities/transactions not class'd elsewhere in SITC 30,021 30,156 28,228 22,871 21,968 
			 Total      
			 Source: HMRC Overseas Trade Statistics database https://www.uktradeinfo.com/Statistics/BuildYourOwnTables/Pages/Home.aspx 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 2: Trade in services by type of service 
			 £ million 
			  Exports to China Imports from China 
			  2011 2012 2011 2012 
			 Transportation 994 723 386 394 
			 Travel 833 882 340 351 
			 Communications 60 75 42 49 
			 Construction 37 81 11 19 
			 Insurance 106 100 110 133 
			 Financial 233 198 79 32 
			 Computer and information 72 106 19 21 
			 Royalties and license fees 52 123 2 2 
			 Other business services 695 765 280 358 
			 Personal, cultural and recreational 58 59 (1)— 4 
			 Government 15 16 (1)— 6 
			 Total services 3155 3128 1280 1369 
			 (1) Indicates that data might be disclosive and have therefore been omitted. ONS estimates of trade in services are based on survey data provided by businesses. Statistical disclosure control is conducted to protect each businesses from identification in published outputs, which means that in some cases, data has been suppressed as in the table above Source: ONS Pink Book 2013

Post Office

Naomi Long: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what value of Government contracts has been won by Post Office Ltd in the last two years.

Jo Swinson: Beyond the information published on the relevant Government and public sector contract finder websites, details of bids and tenders for contracts submitted for by Post Office Ltd and other bidders are commercially confidential between the contracting and bidding parties and are not subject to external scrutiny other than in exceptional circumstances.
	More widely, the Government supports Post Office Ltd's ambition to become a Front Office for Government, noting that the company has won every Government contract it has bid for in the last two years.

Post Office: Northern Ireland

Naomi Long: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many government contracts won by Post Office Ltd in the last 10 years have been awarded in Northern Ireland.

Jo Swinson: Securing and retaining contracts to provide services on behalf of central and local government, is an operational matter for Post Office Ltd. I have therefore asked Paula Vennells, chief executive of Post Office Ltd, to respond directly to the hon. Member and a copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

Post Office: Northern Ireland

Naomi Long: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the effect on the income of post offices in Northern Ireland of recent measures to modernise the network.

Jo Swinson: In 2010, the Government committed to provide £1.34 billion to 2015 to both maintain the Post Office network, and to provide for the modernisation of up to 6,000 branches under the Network Transformation programme, which rolled out nationally in October 2012.
	At the end of September 2013, the subpostmasters and operators of 1,870 post offices had signed contracts to convert their branches to new operating models under the Network Transformation programme. 65 of these branches are in Northern Ireland.
	Subpostmasters converting under Network Transformation benefit from investment into their branches and transitional payments. Customers are benefitting from much longer opening hours, and improved branches. Research shows that converted branches are seeing an average increase of 10% in post office customers, and 12% in retail sales.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Bovine Tuberculosis

Ben Gummer: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many recorded incidents of TB in bison there have been in the UK in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

George Eustice: There have been three cases of TB recorded in bison in the UK during the last five years. One case in 2010, one case in 2011, and one case in 2012. (All these cases were recorded in Great Britain).

Food

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what proportion of the UK's food supply is produced (a) in the UK and (b) abroad.

George Eustice: Food production to supply ratio is calculated as the farm gate value of raw food production (including for export) divided by the value of raw food for human consumption. It provides a broad indicator of the ability of UK agriculture to meet consumer demand.
	The ratio in 2012 was 62% for all food and 76% for indigenous type food.
	Source
	Food Statistics Pocketbook 2013:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/243770/foodpocketbook-2013report-19sep13.pdf

Food

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent assessment he has made of the current level of the UK's food security.

George Eustice: The UK Food Security Assessment published in 2010 is a detailed analysis of the global and domestic factors affecting UK food security, including productivity, supply, affordability and safety. The Government continues to monitor trends, but overall the assessment concludes that the UK is well placed to deal with future challenges. In 2012 officials reassessed the report and concluded that it still represents a robust analysis of food security in the UK.

Food: Imports

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what proportion of the UK's imported food supply enters the UK by (a) land, (b) shipping and (c) air freight.

George Eustice: The information available suggests that in terms of tonnage of food less than 1% of total food imported into the UK comes by air freight. The remainder (greater than 99%) comes by sea, the channel tunnel and the land border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. .
	It is not possible to separate out the proportion coming via land routes but it is thought that this will be relatively small (less than 10%).

Food: Poverty

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on the effect of that Department's policies on food poverty in the UK; and if he will make a statement.

George Eustice: There have been no ministerial discussions between the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on this issue.

Forests

Stephen Phillips: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps his Department is taking to encourage sustainable forest management in (a) the UK, (b) Europe and (c) developing countries.

Dan Rogerson: In 2011 the Forestry Commission published the UK Forestry Standard, the reference standard for sustainable forest management in the UK. This is supported by a series of guidelines that: set out our approach to sustainable forest management; define standards and requirements; and provide a basis for regulation and monitoring. The Forestry and Woodlands Policy Statement for England, published in January, makes protection our top priority and strongly supports an increase in sustainable woodland management. This includes working with partners across the UK to combat the threats from tree pests and diseases.
	At the European level we are currently engaged in negotiation of a new EU Forest Strategy, which aims to improve sustainable forest management across the EU through improving best practice and through creating links between EU and member state policies and initiatives.
	We are also negotiating a legally binding agreement on sustainable forest management as part of Forest Europe, a process involving 46 countries from the pan-European region including the EU, Balkan states, Russia and Turkey.
	DEFRA supports sustainable forest management in developing countries through supply- and demand-side measures to combat trade in illegally harvested timber and timber products. We have introduced legislation to implement the EU Timber Regulations through the Timber and Timber Products (Placing on the Market) Regulation, which came into force in March 2013. In addition, the Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade Regulations came into force in February 2012; these are based on bilateral relationships with timber-exporting developing countries.
	Additionally, DEFRA's £140 million share of the £3.87 billion International Climate Fund is ring-fenced for forestry projects, including those on sustainable forest management, in developing countries.
	Grown in Britain, a major sector led initiative to develop forestry's economic engine, has the UK Forestry Standard at its core.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Iran: Nuclear Proliferation

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent representations he has received on nuclear proliferation in Iran.

Hugh Robertson: As part of the E3+3, the UK plays a key role in efforts to reach a negotiated solution to the Iranian nuclear issue. While respecting the confidentiality of negotiations, we continue to discuss nuclear proliferation in Iran with a range of interested governments and international organisations.

Eritrea

Paul Maynard: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of the UK’s relations with Eritrea.

Mark Simmonds: We are extremely concerned about the human rights situation in Eritrea, including human trafficking and abuse of migrants. We engage with the Eritrean Government at every opportunity. I raised our human rights concerns with the Eritrean Foreign Minister in July.

Egypt

Anne McGuire: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of developments in Egypt and stability in the middle east.

Hugh Robertson: Egypt is in the midst of a difficult political transition. I believe for long-term stability, it needs an inclusive political process leading to early and fair elections which all parties are able to contest, and for all sides to refrain from violence. Egypt occupies an important role in the middle east, and a stable, democratic Egypt would also contribute to wider regional stability.

Burma

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent steps he has taken to support human rights in Burma, in accordance with recent resolutions of the UN Human Rights Council.

Hugo Swire: The UK is active in support of UN Human Rights Council resolutions on Burma and human rights remain at the heart of our policy towards the country. We lobby for the release of all political prisoners, provide expertise on ethnic reconciliation and support to the Rohingya. My hon. Friends the Prime Minister, the Foreign Secretary, the Secretary of State for Defence and the Secretary of State for International Development and I discussed a broad range of human rights and democracy issues with Aung San Suu Kyi in London last week and with President Thein Sein in July.

Zimbabwe: Pension Payments

Stephen Barclay: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations his Department has made to the Government of Zimbabwe since the most recent elections in that country on the withdrawal of pension payments to UK citizens.

Mark Simmonds: The Government of Zimbabwe has previously committed to paying pensions to British nationals and is seeking a mechanism to do so. With the new Zimbabwe Government now appointed, we will seek an update on this issue at the earliest opportunity, and continue to highlight the importance of this issue to British nationals.

Sri Lanka

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of the human rights situation in Sri Lanka.

Hugo Swire: The UK has serious concerns about the human rights situation in Sri Lanka, including on freedom of expression and judicial independence. We consistently press for progress through our engagement with the Sri Lankan Government, international organisations and other states. The Prime Minister, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), and I will use our attendance at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting to see the situation on the ground and raise our concerns directly with the Sri Lankan Government.

Exports

Jake Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what progress his Department has made in increasing exports to (a) established and (b) emerging markets since May 2010.

Hugo Swire: Export driven growth remains a top priority for this Government. Promoting UK prosperity is increasingly central to what the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) does. We have taken major steps forward in transforming the culture and capabilities in commercial work in the FCO in the past two years. Our network shift has allowed us to open or upgrade 14 posts since 2010, increasing our presence in the Emerging Powers and strengthening our existing posts in Asia, Latin America and parts of Africa and increase our programme spend.
	Since 2009, UK exports rose by 23%, in the wake of the deepest recession in post war history. Growth in exports has been driven by demand in the emerging markets e.g. UK Exports to Emerging markets 2009-12 to South Korea were up 103%, Thailand 84%, China, (excluding Hong Kong) 80%, Russia 76%, Brazil 64%, India 48%.
	In 2012, UK export growth was largely flat, in part due to slowdown in emerging markets and the Eurozone which is only now coming out of a deep recession.
	Exports to the US grew by over 8% in the last two years.

Gibraltar: Spain

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representation he has made to his Spanish counterpart about the imposition of fees and charges for people and goods moving into and out of Gibraltar by land.

David Lidington: On 6 August 2013 we informed the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the British Government's deep concern about reports that the Spanish Government was considering the imposition of charges at the Gibraltar/Spain border. While these reports were of concern, no charges have been imposed. We continue to respond to actions and not rhetoric, consistent with our call for de-escalation of the situation at the border.

Iran

Andrew Stunell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs 
	(1)  if he discussed religious freedom in Iran with Special Rapporteur Dr Ahmed Shaheed at the Interactive Dialogue at the UN on 23 October 2013; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  if he will raise the human rights for Baha'i in Iran with the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, at the Interactive Dialogue at the UN on 29 October 2013; and if he will make a statement.

Hugh Robertson: Our officials made a statement expressing our concerns about the treatment of the Baha'i and other religious minorities with Special Rapporteur Dr Ahmed Shaheed on 23 October during the UN General Assembly. The UK will continue to urge Iran to respect the human rights of all its citizens.

Iran

Meg Munn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs 
	(1)  what recent assessment he has made of the human rights situation in Iran and the persecution of people from religious minorities in that country;
	(2)  what assessment has he made of the most recent report by the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran and freedom of religion in that country.

Hugh Robertson: We are deeply concerned by the high level of human rights abuses in Iran—including the use of the death penalty and the persecution of religious minorities as highlighted in the UN Special Rapporteur's report. While there have been some recent positive developments—in particular the release of a number of political prisoners—Iran's overall human rights record remains appalling.

Iran

Meg Munn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent representations he has made to his Iranian counterpart on the situation of members of the Bahá'i faith.

Hugh Robertson: On 23 September the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), raised human rights in Iran with the Iranian Foreign Minister in the margins of the UN General Assembly. On 23 October, the UK released a statement at the UN General Assembly in response to the UN Special Rapporteur's report on the human rights situation in Iran. This highlighted the UK's concerns about the persecution of the Bahá'i community and other religious minorities in Iran.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Belarus

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of UK-funded aid programmes in Belarus.

Justine Greening: Under the previous Multi-annual Financial Framework (2007-13), negotiated when the hon. Member was Minister for Europe, EU aid investments funded projects in Belarus, regardless of progress on reform. This Government has ensured that under the next MFF (2014-20), where reforms on democracy and human rights have not taken place, funding to governments can be reduced or withdrawn.
	The UK does not have a bilateral aid programme to Belarus. The UK provides indirect support to Belarus through the EU's European Neighbourhood Programme (ENP), the policy for which is determined and assessed by the FCO.

Belarus

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much her Department spends annually in Belarus (a) directly and (b) with multilateral organisations; and on what programmes such funding is spent.

Justine Greening: Under the previous Multi-annual Financial Framework (2007-13), negotiated when the hon. Member was Minister for Europe, EU aid investments funded projects in Belarus, regardless of progress on reform. This Government has ensured that under the next MFF (2014-20), where reforms on democracy and human rights have not taken place, funding to governments can be reduced or withdrawn.
	DFID no longer has a bilateral programme in Belarus. The latest available information on the UK's share of multilateral net Official Development Assistance in Belarus is £3.5 million in 2011. Information on which programmes in Belarus each of the multilateral organisations spends funding on is not readily available.

Belarus

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development 
	(1)  how many times (a) she, (b) Ministers in her Department and (c) officials in her Department have visited Belarus since May 2010;
	(2)  how many times she has met Ministers from the Belarusian Government since taking office.

Justine Greening: Under the previous Multi-annual Financial Framework (2007-13), negotiated when the hon. Member was Minister for Europe, EU aid investments funded projects in Belarus, regardless of progress on reform. This Government has ensured that under the next MFF (2014-20), where reforms on democracy and human rights have not taken place, funding to governments can be reduced or withdrawn.
	No DFID Ministers or officials in my Department have visited Belarus or received officials from the Belarusian Government since May 2010.

EU Aid

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development in which countries her Department's contribution to EuropeAid is directed.

Justine Greening: Under the previous Multi-annual Financial Framework (2007-13), negotiated when the hon. Member was Minister for Europe, EU aid investments funded projects in Belarus, regardless of progress on reform. This Government has ensured that under the next MFF (2014-20), where reforms on democracy and human rights have not taken place, funding to governments can be reduced or withdrawn.
	Recipient countries of member state contributions to the EU budget and the European Development Fund are listed in Table 5.11 of the 2013 EuropeAid Annual Report.
	The UK has led the way in pressing for the number of recipients of EU aid under the next MFF (2014-20) to be reduced. Under the changes, upper-middle income countries including Brazil, China and India will no longer receive bilateral grant assistance under the Development Cooperation Instrument. The MFF is now subject to approval by the European Parliament.

JUSTICE

Children and Young Persons Act 1933

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will bring forward legislative proposals to amend section 39 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 so that it explicitly applies to social media.

Jeremy Wright: The Government is currently considering the existing law on reporting restrictions in cases involving under-18s, including social (electronic) media.

Corruption: EU Law

Jacob Rees-Mogg: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the usefulness of co-operation involving Gibraltar undertaken as a result of Article 9(2) of the Convention on the fight against corruption involving officials of the European Communities or officials of Member States of the European Union in the fight against the offences in question; whether the Government of Gibraltar has indicated that it intends to maintain this co-operation unchanged if Gibraltar ceases to be bound by the Convention pursuant to Article 10 of the Protocol on Transitional Provisions annexed to the EU treaties; and how such co-operation would be maintained;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the usefulness of co-operation involving Gibraltar undertaken as a result of Article 9(1) of the Convention on the fight against corruption involving officials of the European Communities or officials of Member States of the European Union in the fight against the offences in question; whether the Government of Gibraltar has indicated that it intends to maintain this co-operation unchanged if Gibraltar ceases to be bound by the Convention pursuant to Article 10 of the Protocol on Transitional Provisions annexed to the EU treaties; and how such co-operation would be maintained;
	(3)  in how many cases the Gibraltarian authorities have co-operated with the authorities of one or more EU member state due to the provisions of Article 9(1) of the Convention on the fight against corruption involving officials of the European Communities or officials of member states of the European Union in each of the last five years; and what the substance and outcome of the co-operation was in each case;
	(4)  in how many cases the Gibraltarian authorities have co-operated with the authorities of one or more EU member states due to the provisions of Article 9(2) of the Convention on the fight against corruption involving officials of the European Communities or officials of member states of the European Union in each of the last five years; and what the substance and outcome of the co-operation was in each case;
	(5)  which requirements of the Convention on the fight against corruption involving officials of the European Communities or officials of member states of the European Union Gibraltar (a) does and (b) does not implement;
	(6)  what laws or practices implement in Gibraltar the requirements of the Convention of the fight against corruption involving officials of the European Communities or officials of member states of the European Union; and what conversations he has had with the government of Gibraltar on whether that body intends to retain these implementing measures unchanged if Gibraltar ceases to be bound by the Convention pursuant to Article 10 of the Protocol on Transitional Provisions annexed to the EU treaties.

Shailesh Vara: The implementation of anti-corruption legislation in Gibraltar is the constitutional competence of HM Government of Gibraltar. The UK Government has therefore made no assessment of the usefulness of co-operation involving Gibraltar undertaken as a result of Article 9(1) or Article 9(2) of the Convention on the fight against corruption involving officials of the European Communities or officials of member states of the European Union. Many of the matters covered have now been superseded by other measures. It will be for HM Government of Gibraltar in consultation with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to decide whether to continue international cooperation unchanged.
	The UK Government does not hold data relating specifically to co- operation of the Gibraltarian authorities with the authorities of one or more other EU member states owing to the provisions of Articles 9(1) and (2) of the Convention. The maintenance of such data is a matter for the Government of Gibraltar. The implementation of the requirements of the Convention is also a matter for the Government of Gibraltar. On this basis, I have had no conversations with the Government of Gibraltar concerning the retention or otherwise of measures implementing the Convention if Gibraltar ceases to be bound pursuant to Article 10 of the Protocol on Transitional Provisions annexed to the EU treaties.

Courts: Buildings

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  which court buildings closed since May 2010 have been disposed of (a) on the open market and (b) through an alternative route;
	(2)  which court buildings announced for closure since May 2010 have been (a) disposed of and (b) not disposed of;
	(3)  which organisations have taken over ownership of each court building closed but not disposed of on the open market since May 2010;
	(4)  how much is spent each month on each court building which has been closed but not disposed of since May 2010;
	(5)  which courts announced to be closing since May 2010 have been disposed of; and how much has been generated in capital receipts from their disposal.

Shailesh Vara: 138 of the 142 courts announced as part of the Court Estate Reform Programme (CERP) in December 2010 have now closed. The remaining courts scheduled to close are Andover magistrates court, Rhyl county court and Alton magistrates court. Due to changes in workload Bicester magistrates court will no longer close under the programme.
	Due to co-location or combined courts, the 141 courts remaining as part of CERP were/are housed in 95 separate properties.
	The sale of 46 court buildings closed under the Court Estate Reform Programme has generated £ 19.67 million in capital receipts. The total cumulative gross benefits are expected from CERP to be £99.2 million over the SR10 period, consisting of resource savings from court closures of £60.6 million and gross capital proceeds of £38.6 million from the sale of buildings.
	In addition to the courts announced for closure under the Court Estate Reform Programme the Ministry of Justice has closed and disposed of a number of court buildings as a result of the integration and co-location of courts.
	The information requested in relation to court buildings which have closed since 2010 is set out in three tables and has been placed in the Library of the House.

The Guardian

Julian Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much his Department spent on advertising with (a) The Guardian newspaper, (b) The Guardian website and (c) The Guardian Media Group in (i) 2009-10, (ii) 2010-11, (iii) 2011-12 and (iv) 2012-13. [Official Report, 14 January 2014, Vol. 573, c. 7MC.]

Shailesh Vara: The information requested is set out in the following table:
	
		
			 Spend on advertising by year (£ rounded) 
			  2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 
			 The Guardian newspaper 29,672 2,043 n/a 9,042 
			 The Guardian website and the Guardian Media Group 20,242 353 3,231.90 9,886 
		
	
	The Ministry's expenditure on advertising and promotion relates to recruitment, with the majority of recruitment activity being within the National Offender Management Service to ensure sufficient prison officers are in post to operate effectively the prison system.
	The Guardian outlets are only one of many that are used for this purpose. For example, the Ministry also uses The Sunday Times

Judges

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  what proportion of serving judge advocates were (a) male, (b) female, (c) black, Asian and minority ethnic, (d) educated at the University of Oxford or the University of Cambridge, (e) educated at other Russell Group universities, (f) educated at all other universities, (g) solicitors, (h) barristers and (i) Queen's Counsel in each year since 2003;
	(2)  what proportion of serving deputy judge advocates were (a) male, (b) female, (c) black, Asian and minority ethnic, (d) educated at the University of Oxford or the University of Cambridge, (e) educated at other Russell Group universities, (f) educated at all other universities, (g) solicitors, (h) barristers and (i) Queen's counsel in each year since 2003;
	(3)  what proportion of serving Lord Justices of Appeal were (a) male, (b) female, (c) black, Asian and minority ethnic, (d) educated at the University of Oxford or the University of Cambridge, (e) educated at other Russell Group universities, (f) educated at all other universities, (g) solicitors, (h) barristers and (i) Queen's counsel in each year since 2003;
	(4)  what proportion of serving high court judges were (a) male, (b) female, (c) black, Asian and minority ethnic, (d) educated at the University of Oxford or the University of Cambridge, (e) educated at other Russell Group universities, (f) educated at all other universities, (g) solicitors, (h) barristers and (i) Queen's counsel in each year since 2003;
	(5)  what proportion of serving heads of division were (a) male, (b) female, (c) black, Asian and minority ethnic, (d) educated at the University of Oxford or the University of Cambridge, (e) educated at other Russell Group universities, (f) educated at all other universities, (g) solicitors, (h) barristers and (i) Queen's counsel in each year since 2003.

Shailesh Vara: Shailesh Vara: The data on the gender, ethnicity and professional background of the judiciary are held and published by the Judicial Office. (Information on previous professional background was not published before 2007.)
	This data is available at:
	For 2013:
	http://www.judiciary.gov.uk/publications-and-reports/statistics/diversity-stats-and-gen-overview
	From 2001 to 2011:
	http://www.judiciary.gov.uk/publications-and-reports/statistics/diversity-stats-and-gen-overview/archived-diversity-stats
	Information on the education or Queen’s counsel status of the judiciary is not published by the Judicial Office.
	The Ministry of Justice only holds data on appointments to Advocate-General and Deputy Judge Advocate-General since 2008, following the commencement of the changes introduced through the Armed Forces Act 2006.
	The following tables provide the information on the diversity of the relevant judicial office holders from 2003 (where data is held):
	
		
			 Serving Judge Advocates 
			  Number Male Number female Percentage female BAME1 Percentage BAME2 Former barristers Former solicitors Total in post 
			 2013 7 1 12.5 0 0 7 1 8 
			 2012 7 1 12.5 0 0 7 1 8 
			 2011 7 1 12.5 0 0 7 1 8 
			 2010 8 1 11.1 0 0 8 1 9 
			 2009 9 0 0 0 0 9 0 9 
			 2008 9 0 0 0 0 9 0 9 
			 (172369) 
		
	
	
		
			 Serving Deputy Judge Advocates 
			  Number male Number female Percentage female BAME1 Percentage BAME2 Former barristers Former solicitors Total in post 
			 2013 4 1 20.2 0 0 5 0 5 
			 2012 4 1 20.0 0 0 5 0 5 
			 2011 4 1 20.0 0 0 5 0 5 
			 2010 4 1 20.0 0 0 5 0 5 
			 2009 11 1 8.3 1 11.1 11 1 12 
			 2008 11 1 8.3 0 0 11 1 12 
			 (172370) 
		
	
	
		
			 Serving Lord Justices of Appeal 
			  Number male Number female Percentage female BAME1 Percentage BAME2 Former barristers Former solicitors Total in post 
			 2013 31 4 11.4 0 0 35 0 35 
			 2012 34 4 10.5 0 0 38 0 38 
			 2011 33 4 10.8 0 0 37 0 37 
			 2010 34 3 8.1 0 0 37 0 37 
			 2009 34 3 8.1 0 0 36 1 37 
			 2008 34 3 8.1 0 0 36 1 37 
			 2007 34 3 8.1 0 0 36 1 37 
			 2006 — 3 8.1 0 0 — — 37 
			 2005 — 2 5.4 0 0 — — 37 
			 2004 — 2 5.4 0 0 — — 37 
			 2003 — 3 8.6 0 0 — — 35 
			 (172371) 
		
	
	
		
			 Serving High Court Judges 
			  Number male Number female Percentage female BAME1 Percentage BAME2 Former barristers Former solicitors Total in post 
			 2013 90 18 16.7 5 4.6 106 1 108 
			 2012 93 17 15.5 5 4.5 108 1 110 
			 2011 91 17 15.7 4 3.7 107 1 108 
			 2010 92 16 14.8 3 2.8 107 1 108 
			 2009 99 11 10.0 3 2.8 109 1 110 
			 2008 99 11 10.0 3 2.7 109 1 110 
			 2007 98 10 9.3 1 0.9 107 1 108 
			 2006 — 11 10.2 1 0.9 — — 107 
			 2005 — 10 9.3 1 0.9 — — 107 
			 2004 — 8 7.6 0 0 — — 105 
			 2003 — 6 5.7 0 0 — — 106 
			 (172372) 
		
	
	
		
			 Serving Heads of Division 
			  Number male Number female Percentage female BAME1 Percentage BAME2 Former barristers Former solicitors Total in post 
			 2013 5 0 0 0 0 5 0 5 
			 2012 5 0 0 0 0 5 0 5 
			 2011 5 0 0 0 0 5 0 5 
			 2010 5 0 0 0 0 5 0 5 
			 2009 5 0 0 0 0 5 0 5 
			 2008 5 0 0 0 0 5 0 5 
			 2007 5 0 0 0 0 5 0 5 
			 2006 — 0 — 0 0 — — 5 
			 2005 — 1 — 0 0 — — 4 
			 2004 — 1 — 0 0 — — 4 
		
	
	
		
			 2003 — 1 — 0 0 — — 4 
			 (172373) ‘—’ = Denotes not available. 1 The database of the ethnic origin of the judiciary is incomplete as candidates are asked to provide the information on a voluntary basis. 2 The black, Asian and minority ethnic figure has been calculated as a percentage of all members of the judiciary. Note: Due to the small numbers caution should be taken when considering changes in proportions over time.

Offenders: Deportation

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many conditional cautions have been issued by police forces and prosecutors in England and Wales for foreign offenders to facilitate their removal from the UK since 2013; and for what offences each such caution was issued.

Mark Harper: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Home Department.
	The provisions for issuing conditional cautions to facilitate the removal of low-level foreign offenders came into force on 8 April 2013. The figures are as follows:
	
		
			  Number  
			 Total conditional cautions issued 10 — 
			 Of which, successful removals 6 Case 1: Seeking leave to remain in the United Kingdom by means of deception. 
			   Case 2: Fraud. 
			   Case3:Fraud. 
			   Case 4: Fraud by false representation. 
			   Case 5: Possession of a counterfeit ID card with intent to deceive. 
			   Case 6: Fraud by false representation. 
			    
			 Pending 1 Fraud by false representation. Removal directions have been set. 
			    
			 Unsuccessful 3 Case 1: Two counts of seeking leave to remain in the United Kingdom by means of deception, possession of an identity document with intent to deceive, fraud by false representation and perverting the course of justice. The offender has since been prosecuted, convicted and sentenced to six months' imprisonment. 
			   Case 2: Possession of a counterfeit identity document. The conditional caution was discontinued, but the individual has been administratively removed from the United Kingdom. 
			   Case 3: Possession of false instrument. Prosecution proceedings are under way. 
			 Note: All figures quoted have been derived from management information and are therefore provisional and subject to change. This information has not been quality assured under National Statistics protocols. 
		
	
	We are working with the national policing lead and the Crown Prosecution Service to increase the use of conditional cautions with foreign offender conditions in appropriate cases.

Prisoners

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners have been released on parole after serving the minimum period of their indeterminate sentence in prison.

Jeremy Wright: It is for the independent Parole Board to determine whether to direct the release of life or other indeterminate sentence prisoners, once they have completed their minimum period of imprisonment ("the tariff), as determined by the sentencing court. Such prisoners become eligible for release only once they have completed their tariff, which is the minimum period of imprisonment specified by the court for the purposes of retribution and deterrence. In many cases, such prisoners will serve longer periods in custody than their tariff, in some cases considerably longer.
	The Parole Board will direct the release of such prisoners only if it is satisfied that it is no longer necessary on the grounds of public protection for them to be detained in custody.
	Between 1 January 2006 and 31 March 2013, the latest period for which figures are available, there have been 1,026 releases from prison of those serving an indeterminate sentence for public protection (IPP) who have served at least their tariff.
	The number of releases from prison following a life sentence in the same period is 1,322, again who have served at least their tariff.
	Data on releases are published quarterly in the Ministry of Justice statistical bulletin Offender Management Statistics Quarterly and may be found at the following web address:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/series/prisons-and-probation-statistics
	The average time in years spent in custody for indeterminate sentence prisoners (ISPs) once the minimum tariff has been served is shown in the following table.
	
		
			  2010 2011 2012 Q1 2013 
			 IPP 1.9 2.3 2.8 3.2 
			 Life 4.4 5.0 5.6 5.0 
			 All ISP 3.5 3.5 3.9 4.1 
		
	
	Data are only available in this format for ISP releases since 2010. These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

Prisoners

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners released in (a) 2010, (b) 2011 and (c) 2012 had spent more than two years in open conditions.

Jeremy Wright: To provide figures over this time period of the number of prisoners who had spent more than two years in open conditions prior to release would involve the manual interrogation of around 15,000 records which could be achieved only at disproportionate cost.

Probation

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice who his Department consulted about the supervision of female offenders and males convicted of domestic abuse in respect of Transforming Rehabilitation; and if he will publish the responses from those consultees.

Jeremy Wright: We received almost 600 formal responses to the consultation “Transforming Rehabilitation: a revolution in the way we manage offenders” and held 14 consultation events which were attended by over 800 stakeholders. We published a summary of the written responses in May.
	The responses we received were wide ranging and were fed into the policy design process. We know that domestic violence has the highest rate of repeat victimisation and it is therefore vital that perpetrators of domestic violence are identified and their risk reduced through appropriate interventions. Under our reforms providers of rehabilitation services will be focused on what works to reduce reoffending, including working with offenders to tackle domestic violence issues and consequently reduce the number of victims.

Sexual Offences

Caroline Dinenage: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps he is taking to improve the conviction rates in cases of alleged rape and sexual violence.

Dominic Grieve: I have been asked to reply.
	In 2012-13, the conviction rate for rape rose to 63.2%, and that for sexual offences (excluding rape) to 76.8%: in both cases, the highest recorded conviction rate.
	Improving the conviction rate for such prosecutions continues to be a priority for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and the Director of Public Prosecutions is committed to building effective cases and supporting victims.
	The work of the CPS on sexual offences feeds into the cross-Government strategy on violence against women and girls (VAWG). This is overseen by a VAWG inter-ministerial group chaired by the Home Secretary, which I regularly attend.

TRANSPORT

Bus Services

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what funding his Department provides to the (a) Better Bus Area Fund, (b) Green Bus Fund and (c) Local Sustainable Transport Fund.

Stephen Hammond: In 2012, the Department provided funding of £70 million through the Better Bus Area fund to 24 local authorities. Since 2009, through four rounds of the Green Bus Fund, the Department has provided £88 million of funding to bus operators and local authorities. The Local Sustainable Transport Fund will see funding of £600 million provided to local authorities from 2011 to 2015.

First TransPennine Express

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps his Department is taking to ensure that new (a) Class 68 diesels and (b) Class 88 bi-mode locomotives are able to couple and operate with the planned electric rolling stock for use on the North West Trans Pennine routes.

Stephen Hammond: Operational issues are a matter for the train operating companies to manage. It is their role to deliver their services within the scope and obligations set out in the Franchise Agreement.

First TransPennine Express

John Woodcock: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects to consult on the terms of the contract to operate Trans Pennine rail services between April 2015 and February 2016; and what form that consultation will take.

Stephen Hammond: In September 2013, the Department for Transport began a project to deliver a new franchise by direct award, in order to continue operations on the TransPennine Express (TPE) franchise between the end of the current franchise in April 2015 and the start of the next competed franchise in February 2016.
	Department officials are in regular discussions with key stakeholders, including the incumbent franchisee, in developing the terms of the agreement. Further discussions will take place as the franchising project progresses.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will direct HS2 Ltd to commission a study on the potential economic effects on Warrington of (a) that town not having a station on the High Speed 2 line and (b) a reduction in the number of direct trains to London and Scotland from Warrington Bank Quay.

Robert Goodwill: holding answer 28 October 2013
	HS2 Ltd has recently published an initial study analysing the regional economic impacts of HS2 and associated use of the classic rail network infrastructure. This includes an estimate that the productivity benefits to the North West region could be between £1.1 billion and £2.5 billion in 2037. HS2 Ltd will continue to develop analysis in this area.
	The indicative train timetable in this modelling shows that Warrington Bank Quay would be served by high speed classic-compatible trains in both phase one and phase two of HS2. One of the key principles that will guide future service patterns is that all towns or cities which currently have a direct service to London will retain broadly comparable or better services once HS2 is completed.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 22 October 2013, Official Report, column 120W, on High Speed 2, if he will publish (a) the case for strategic rail alternatives to High Speed 2 commissioned from WS Atkins, (b) the Professional Services Commercial analysis WP7 commissioined from PwC, (c) the professional Services Regional Economic Analysis commissioned from KPMG LLP and (d) the professional services full audit of HS2 Ltd modelling from Sinclair Knight Merz (Europe) Ltd (SKM).

Robert Goodwill: The information is as follows:
	(a) The Atkins report on Strategic Rail Alternatives to HS2 is published today by the Department and a copy has been placed in the House Library.
	(b) HS2 Ltd will consider publication of the Commercial Analysis WP7 by PwC once the work is complete.
	(c) The KPMG report on HS2 Regional Economic Impacts was published on 1 September 2013.
	(d) The audit of the Planet Framework Model carried out by SKM is published today by HS2 Ltd.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the parliamentary constituencies which the KPMG report on the economic impact of High Speed 2 indicated would be negatively affected.

Robert Goodwill: The analysis in the KPMG report on regional economic impacts is based on transport zones rather than parliamentary constituencies and the results cannot be presented on the basis of the latter. The report estimates that HS2 would deliver a £15 billion annual boost to economic output from 2037.

High Speed Two

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many people retained by HS2 Ltd on personal service contracts have been found not to have been compliant with their tax and National Insurance obligations until contacted by the Department's representive looking into this aspect of their employment.

Robert Goodwill: There were none.

High Speed Two

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which people engaged by (a) HS2 Ltd and (b) his Department with responsibility for the High Speed 2 project have (a) received bonuses or (b) been contracted with promises of bonus payments; what the value of each such bonus payments was; and what performance indicators were attached to such bonuses.

Robert Goodwill: Within the Department, the performance arrangements provide for bonuses in respect of staff achieving certain levels of performance measured against individual achievement of objectives.
	In 2011-12 and 2012-13, 95% of staff below the senior civil service were eligible for a bonus ranging between £380 to £1,800 and 25% of staff in the senior civil service were eligible for a bonus ranging between £7,000 to £12,500. The total value of the bonuses paid in the two years across the Department was £3,033,937.
	In 2013-14, 25% of staff below the senior civil service were eligible for a bonus ranging between £540 to £2,700 and 25% of staff in the senior civil service were eligible for a bonus ranging between £10,000 to £15,000. The total value of the bonuses paid was £1,158,538.
	The same proportions would apply to staff engaged on HS2 issues as to the rest of the Department.
	In 2011-12 HS2 Ltd paid bonuses of £1,000 or less to four people and a bonus of £14,000 to one person.
	In 2012-13 HS2 Ltd paid a bonus to one person in the range £15,000 to £20,000 for performance in the year ending March 2012.
	Criteria used were business delivery objectives, development of capability and contribution to corporate objectives.
	HS2 Ltd no longer operates a bonus scheme for employees.

Liverpool Airport

Steve Rotheram: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make an assessment of the effect of Liverpool John Lennon Airport on the (a) North West and (b) British economy.

Robert Goodwill: The Government's Aviation Policy Framework recognises the important role of airports across the UK in providing air connectivity and their vital contribution to regional economic growth. We support making best use of airports such as Liverpool John Lennon, subject to the appropriate management of local environmental impacts. The independent Airports Commission's remit requires it to maintain a UK-wide perspective in proposing how the UK should maintain its position as Europe's most important aviation hub. The Government's “UK Aviation Forecasts”, published in January 2013, predict that passenger numbers at the airport will increase from 4.5 million in 2012 by 18% to 5.3 million passenger per annum by 2020 (and a further 26% to 6.7 million in 2030).

Railways: Scotland

Alistair Darling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  what the punctuality targets are for trains between (a) Edinburgh Waverley and London King's Cross and (b) Glasgow Central and London Euston; and what proportion of those targets are currently being met;
	(2)  what plans he has to (a) amend the current punctuality targets for trains between (i) Edinburgh Waverley and London King's Cross and (ii) Glasgow Central and London Euston and (b) announce any such amendment.

Stephen Hammond: The Department does not set such targets for specific routes.
	The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) sets regulated outputs which are the minimum level of performance specified as obligations for Network Rail to achieve, and these are set by sector. Network Rail are required by ORR's final determinations to deliver improvements in the public performance measure (PPM) for punctuality at both a national and sector level. The targets for period 2009-14 for the long distance sector were:
	
		
			 Public performance measure 
			  (Percentage annual average) 
			 2009/10 88.6 
			 2010/11 89.4 
			 2011/12 90.9 
			 2012/13 91.5 
			 2013/14 92 
		
	
	The Office of Rail Regulation is expected to publish shortly its decision on targets for the next period, 2014-19.

Railways: Standards

Louise Ellman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the current punctuality targets are for franchises on the (a) West Coast mainline and (b) East Coast mainline; and what he plans such targets to be in the next control period.

Stephen Hammond: The Department does not currently set performance targets for franchised rail operators, although it is currently considering introducing such targets for future franchises, which would be intended to align as closely as possible with the regulatory performance targets set by the Office of Rail Regulation for Network Rail.
	The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) sets regulated outputs which are the minimum level of performance specified as obligations for Network Rail to achieve, and these are set by sector. Network Rail are required by ORR's final determinations to deliver improvements in the public performance measure (PPM) for punctuality at both a national and sector level. The targets for period 2009-14 for the long distance sector were:
	
		
			 Public performance measure 
			  (Percentage annual average) 
			 2009/10 88.6 
			 2010/11 89.4 
			 2011/12 90.9 
			 2012/13 91.5 
			 2013/14 92

Roads: South West

Neil Parish: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  what assessment he had made of the effects of improving the A303/A30/A358 corridor to improve the severe weather resilience of the transport network in the South West;
	(2)  what assessment his Department has made of the economic benefit to the South West of improving the A303/A30/A358 corridor.

Robert Goodwill: The Department has not undertaken a specific recent assessment of the effects of improving the A303/A30/A358 corridor to improve the severe weather resilience of the transport network in the south-west, or the economic benefit to the south-west of improving the corridor.
	The Department is undertaking six feasibility studies as part of the process of identifying and funding solutions to tackle some of the most notorious and long-standing road hot spots in the country, one of which is focused on the A303/A30/A358 corridor.
	The Department is in the process of developing the detailed scope of this study, and through a process of engagement with stakeholders is aiming to finalise the timing, aims and scope of the A303 study by the end of 2013.

Tankers

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the statement of 24 October 2013 on Haulage, Road Tank Vehicle Compliance, which model of fuel tanker the statement refers to; for what reason they are not in full compliance with the European Agreement Concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road; what assessment he has made of the risk posed by such non-compliance to other road users; and what assessment he has made of vehicle inspection services by Bureau Veritas.

Robert Goodwill: The non-compliant road tank vehicles were manufactured by GRW Engineering (Pty) Ltd based in South Africa. The quality of the welding and the hatches on top of the tank fall short of the required standards and the bottom off-take nozzles need to be re-fitted. The nature of these problems means that in day-to-day use, these tankers present a low risk as evidenced by many years of safe operation. The defects have been assessed to determine whether the tankers could withstand a roll-over incident. Our preliminary finding is that they may be more likely to rupture than a fully compliant tanker. However, even a compliant tanker will not be able to withstand a severe accident. These vehicles have been on the road for up to seven years without incident and they would not be allowed to continue in service if they presented an immediate risk.
	The tanks were inspected and certified by Bureau Veritas (South Africa), a body that the UK competent authority has never appointed to undertake those functions. Bureau Veritas (UK)'s appointment has been severely restricted in scope but has not been withdrawn so that it can assist with the re-certification of the GRW manufactured road tank vehicles and service the needs of its existing customers. Its appointment is kept under review.

ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Energy

Jason McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much his Department spent on (a) gas and (b) electricity in (i) 2010-11 and (ii) 2011-12.

Gregory Barker: The Department of Energy and Climate Change incurred the following costs in respect of gas and electricity in 2010-11 and 2011-12.
	
		
			 £ 
			  2010/11 2011/12 
			 Electricity 203,723 165,782 
			 Gas 19,122 16,700

Energy

Jason McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change which company supplied (a) gas and (b) electricity to his Department in (i) 2010-11 and (ii) 2011-12.

Gregory Barker: The gas and electricity suppliers to the Department of Energy and Climate Change were as follows:
	
		
			  2010/11 2011/12 
			 Gas Total Gas and Power Total Gas and Power 
			 Electricity Scottish Hydro Electric Scottish Hydro Electric 
		
	
	This Department also occupies space in a building in Aberdeen (leased through the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills—BIS). The suppliers for both specified years in this building were:
	Electricity—EDF Energy
	Gas—Corona.

Energy

Christopher Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what costs were incurred by his Department's estate in respect of (a) gas and (b) electricity supply in the 2012-13 financial year.

Gregory Barker: The Department of Energy and Climate Change incurred the following costs in the year 2012-13:
	
		
			  £ 
			 Electricity 203,137.00 
			 Gas 22,654.00

Energy

John Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of the number of people who have switched energy supplier in (a) Glasgow North West constituency, (b) Glasgow, (c) Scotland and (d) the UK in each of the last 60 months.

Michael Fallon: Data are only available for Great Britain. The following table shows the number of transfers between suppliers over the last 60 months of available data for Great Britain.
	
		
			 Number 
			 Month and year Electricity Transfers Gas Transfers 
			 July 2008 474,000 361,000 
			 August 2008 553,000 348,000 
			 September 2008 466,000 427,000 
			 October 2008 478,000 347,000 
			 November 2008 428,000 336,000 
			 December 2008 439,000 332,000 
			 January 2009 290,000 331,000 
			 February 2009 364,000 255,000 
			 March 2009 475,000 311,000 
			 April 2009 423,000 298,000 
			 May 2009 397,000 324,000 
		
	
	
		
			 June 2009 434,000 332,000 
			 July 2009 442,000 327,000 
			 August 2009 388,000 304,000 
			 September 2009 480,000 343,000 
			 October 2009 455,000 336,000 
			 November 2009 441,000 330,000 
			 December 2009 438,000 332,000 
			 January 2010 259,000 307,000 
			 February 2010 353,000 217,000 
			 March 2010 460,000 316,000 
			 April 2010 379,000 307,000 
			 May 2010 352,000 271,000 
			 June 2010 413,000 289,000 
			 July 2010 398,000 292,000 
			 August 2010 419,000 296,000 
			 September 2010 426,000 305,000 
			 October 2010 409,000 305,000 
			 November 2010 456,000 322,000 
			 December 2010 425,000 328,000 
			 January 2011 270,000 279,000 
			 February 2011 324,000 211,000 
			 March 2011 400,000 307,000 
			 April 2011 360,000 246,000 
			 May 2011 356,000 308,000 
			 June 2011 393,000 259,000 
			 July 2011 397,000 301,000 
			 August 2011 449,000 343,000 
			 September 2011 343,000 309,000 
			 October 2011 326,000 247,000 
			 November 2011 329,000 240,000 
			 December 2011 259,000 219,000 
			 January 2012 210,000 194,000 
			 February 2012 257,000 149,000 
			 March 2012 279,000 190,000 
			 April 2012 232,000 176,000 
			 May 2012 286,000 202,000 
			 June 2012 272,000 192,000 
			 July 2012 257,000 190,000 
			 August 2012 265,000 187,000 
			 September 2012 312,000 195,000 
			 October 2012 366,000 273,000 
			 November 2012 338,000 174,000 
			 December 2012 266,000 159,000 
			 January 2013 222,000 158,000 
			 February 2013 241,000 118,000 
			 March 2013 238,000 144,000 
			 April 2013 242,000 187,000 
		
	
	
		
			 May 2013 222,000 155,000 
			 June 2013 193,000 148,000 
		
	
	These numbers refer to the total number of switches, rather than the number of consumers who have switched (i.e. they may include some customers who have switched more than once). They do not include switches to a different tariff with the same supplier. For gas the figures only include the Big 6 energy suppliers, while for electricity, the figures include all energy suppliers.
	These data are published in table 2.7.1 of DECC's Quarterly Energy Prices Publication. The source data are provided by Ofgem, and are based on meter-point data.

Energy: Meters

Jonathan Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what proportion of the smart meters currently installed in UK homes were manufactured in the UK.

Gregory Barker: The Government does not maintain records of the country of manufacture for smart meters installed in homes in the UK. Nevertheless, while many of the components for smart meters are likely to be manufactured overseas, we expect factories in the UK to receive substantial new orders to do the final assembly and technical configuration for many millions of smart meters needed for the roll-out of smart meters in Great Britain. To this end, the Government welcomed the announcement in September that manufacturer Landis+Gyr expects to double its 600-strong UK workforce following a £600 million deal with British Gas to supply smart meters.

Fuel Oil: Prices

Jonathan Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the answer of 22 October 2013, Official Report, column 149W, on snow and ice, what assessment he has made of the success of the Buy Oil Early campaign.

Michael Fallon: It is too early at this point to measure the success of the campaign. DECC will be monitoring the impact through the statistics for inland deliveries of kerosene and average temperature which we gather and monitor throughout the year (with a two-month lag). The statistics are available from:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/244816/et3_13.xls
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/244827/et7_1.xls
	In addition the Federation of Petroleum Supplies have asked a cross-section of their members to canvass customer calls and report on a regional basis what percentage of orders have been influenced by the campaign.

Hinkley Point C Power Station

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will publish in full the security package provided by the investors in Hinkley C in order to permit them access to the £10 billion loan guarantee provided in support of the project by HM Treasury.

Nicky Morgan: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Treasury.
	As is normal practice in project financing, non-disclosure agreements have been signed ahead of commercial discussions with potential investors in Hinkley Point C.
	A guarantee has not been approved and a security package has not been agreed. At this early stage of discussion with investors it cannot be said what will be published however the Government will disclose information within the bounds of the confidentiality agreement.

EDUCATION

Academies

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment he has made of the level of subscription for places in academies in the most recent admissions round.

Edward Timpson: The annual admissions round is co-ordinated by local authorities. The Department does not collect information on the level of oversubscription at individual schools, but does collect preference data at local authority level. These tell us how many parents received an offer of a place at one of the schools for which they expressed a preference. From 2014 we will be collecting preference data at pupil level and we will then be able to look at individual schools and academies.

Academies

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many Academy chains have had restrictions placed on them by his Department to date.

Edward Timpson: Since January 2013, a total of 25 academy chains have agreed to pause and restrict their growth and further expansion. Any plans they produce for future growth and expansion will be assessed by the Department and reviewed on an ongoing basis. This will allow them to concentrate on improving performance at their existing schools.
	Where academies are underperforming we will use our statutory powers, such as Pre-Warning Notices and Warning Notices. For the worst performing sponsors we have immediately paused their growth and intervened at board level. We are also implementing a number of steps to bring about improvement, such as helping them to build board-level capability and identifying people with relevant skills and experience to join boards.
	As well as looking at annual performance results we also undertake regular assessments of sponsors' capacity to ensure growth is sensible and well-managed. This will allow us to identify where sponsors are at risk of being overstretched.

Academies

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what estimate he has made of the number of academy trusts that are in a position to take on new academies.

Edward Timpson: As of 25 October 2013, 491 approved academy trusts are in a position to take on new academies. However, we are currently reviewing the capacity of all sponsors based on analysis of their performance and 2013 exam results and each week we approve and add more academy trusts to our pool of approved sponsors.

Academies: Yorkshire and the Humber

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what proportion of children in (a) Huddersfield and (b) Yorkshire attend an academy school.

Edward Timpson: The January 2013 school census showed that 10% of children in state-funded mainstream schools in Huddersfield constituency were attending an academy. There have been no subsequent academy openings in the constituency to date, so the current figure is likely to be similar.
	The January 2013 school census showed that 22% of children in state-funded mainstream schools in Yorkshire and the Humber were attending an academy. 99 mainstream academies have opened in the Yorkshire and the Humber region since then. Taking this into account, it is estimated that 28% of children in state-funded mainstream schools in the region are currently attending an academy.

Curriculum

Nicholas Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education pursuant to the answer of 2 September 2013, Official Report, column 69W, on the curriculum, whether any new sources of funding will be provided to assist schools in providing training for teachers; and if he will make a statement.

Elizabeth Truss: The Department for Education recognises that the high expectations set by the new national curriculum will present challenges for some schools. To assist them, existing opportunities funded by Government in core subjects are being adapted to reflect the requirements of the new curriculum. For example, the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM) has a range of support for schools. The match funding scheme of £3,000 for phonics materials and training has been extended until October 2013. We have made £2 million available to recruit 400 master teachers in computer science over the next two years. We also announced a further £2 million to support teaching schools to take forward the delivery of the new curriculum in their alliances, and in March we announced £150 million per year of ring-fenced funding for primary school sport.
	Beyond this, we will not be rolling out a national support programme for all schools, as the Government believes that schools are best placed to decide which professional development meets their needs.

Curriculum

Nicholas Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education pursuant to the answer of 2 September 2013, Official Report, column 69W, on the curriculum, what discussions he has had with subject experts, publishers and school suppliers to identify what support for schools is already in place and what is still needed to fulfil the requirements of the new National Curriculum; which organisations or individuals his Department is working with in this area; and if he will make a statement.

Elizabeth Truss: Departmental officials have regular discussions with publishers' and suppliers' representatives, namely the Education Publishers Council (EPC), a division of the Publishers' Association, and the British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA). These discussions have focused on what the sector is doing to make sure that high-quality teaching materials are available to schools to support the new national curriculum. We have also facilitated a series of 'expert subject groups', comprising members of teaching schools, subject associations and Higher Education Institutions. They have been looking at the challenges posed, the materials currently available to support teachers, and gaps in materials. These groups have started to produce their own guidance for schools as they prepare to deliver the new curriculum. We have also made the link between the EPC/BESA and these expert groups, so that they can help the publishers to target gaps in the market.

Curriculum

Nicholas Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education pursuant to the answer of 2 September 2013, Official Report, column 69W, on the curriculum, when his Department will have formulated a communications plan for ensuring that schools are aware of the changes to the National Curriculum; and if he will make a statement.

Elizabeth Truss: The Department for Education has a communications plan in place for the reform of the national curriculum. Following its publication, we published a simple and comprehensive guide that has already been viewed over 8,000 times. We are also making information and support available for teachers to help implement the new national curriculum and will continue to do so for the next year, and beyond. For example, we have a series of podcasts in which experts explain to teachers the resources available and how they can help. This can all be viewed on our TES page.1
	1Note:
	http://community.tes.co.uk/national_curriculum_2014/b/national_curriculum_2014/default.aspx
	We are speaking directly to headteachers and teachers at conferences around the country to share the support available and hear from them what they need.

Education Endowment Foundation

Nicholas Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education pursuant to the answer of 15 October 2013, Official Report, column 696W, on Education Endowment Foundation, what information his Department holds on meetings between Ministers of his Department and EEF since May 2010.

David Laws: Pursuant to the answer of 24 October 2013, Official Report, column 236W, the Department holds ministerial briefing papers for these meetings.

Free Schools: Bedfordshire

Nadine Dorries: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what public funds were received by the Barnfield Federation to handle the free school application for the former Fernwood Pre-Prep School in Bedfordshire.

Edward Timpson: The free school trust received the usual fixed-rate project development grant of £25,000.

Higher Education: Admissions

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what recent steps he has taken to ensure that students previously in state education are encouraged to apply to top universities.

Matthew Hancock: The Government is determined that anyone with the ambition and ability should be encouraged to aim high to achieve the best grades possible and apply to top universities,, regardless of their educational background.
	Data published by UCAS show the proportion of 18 -year-olds from the most disadvantaged backgrounds applying to university for entry in the 2013-14 academic year has increased to the highest level ever recorded. The application rate of 18-year-olds from the most disadvantaged areas in England has increased to 19.8% in 2013.
	The Department for Education's Future Scholar Awards programme encourages higher aspirations by rewarding high performing year 9 pupils in state-funded schools with a visit to a Russell Group university.
	Schools and colleges have an important role to play in encouraging their students to aim high. The key stage 5 Destination Measure provides data on the destinations of students the year after taking A level or other level 3 qualifications, including higher education. These data are broken down by different types of higher education institution and enable users to assess the success of schools and colleges in supporting their students to progress to university study at the highest level.

History: GCSE

Chris Skidmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Education in how many mainstream secondary schools no pupil obtained grade C or above at history GCSE in 2013; and how many mainstream secondary schools did not enter any pupils for a history GCSE in 2013.

David Laws: Data for the 2012-13 academic year will be published in the Performance Tables in January 2014. Data for 2011-12 can be downloaded from the Department's website(1).
	Of the 3,165(2) mainstream secondary schools, 47 schools had no pupils achieving a grade C or above in GCSE history or ancient history in 2011-12. Of those 47 mainstream secondary schools, in 40 schools no pupils entered GCSE history or ancient history in 2011-12.
	Please see following table for comparison data(2):
	
		
			 Academic year Total no. of mainstream secondary schools Total no. of mainstream secondary schools where no pupils achieved a grade C or above in GCSE History Total no.of mainstream secondary schools with no pupils entered in GCSE History 
			 2009-10 3,058 70 70 
			 2010-11 3,038 113 70 
			 2011-12 3,165 47 40 
		
	
	(1) http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/performance/download_ data.html
	(2) Mainstream schools included in Performance Tables only. This includes academies, free schools and city technology colleges. Schools with suppressed results are excluded from these figures.

Private Education

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what training Independent Schools Inspectorate inspectors received on safeguarding and the protection of children in relation to practice in independent schools.

David Laws: This is a matter for the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI), which is responsible for the training of its own inspectors. The inspection regime operated by ISI is monitored by Ofsted, which produces annual quality assurance reports on the quality of ISI's inspections, including comment on the adequacy of training.

Schools

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what research his Department has undertaken or assessed of the value to children and young people of attending an all-through school.

David Laws: There is currently no robust research available which compares the experiences and outcomes for pupils attending an all-through school with pupils attending the more traditional primary and secondary school model.

Schools: Yorkshire and the Humber

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many schools in Yorkshire are all-through schools serving both primary and secondary school-age children.

David Laws: There are nine state-funded all-through schools in the Yorkshire and Humber region,(1) of which four are academies, two are free schools and three are local authority maintained schools.
	(1) As of October 2013.

HEALTH

Additives

Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will bring forward proposals to ban the use of colouring additives, such as sunset yellow, caroisine and quinoline yellow, in children's medicine; and if he will make a statement.

Norman Lamb: European medicines legislation permits medicines to contain colours that are authorised for use in food. The European Food Safety Authority is re-evaluating authorised food additives and any change in the list of permitted additives will apply to medicines. Existing European guidance on the use of colours in medicines states that synthetic colouring agents should not be used in medicines for paediatric use when only intended for aesthetic purposes. Although the amount of colouring agents used in medicines is small in comparison with foods, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, which is responsible for the authorisation of medicines for the United Kingdom market, strongly encourages companies to avoid the addition of colouring agents in paediatric medicines. This approach is supported by new European guidance on paediatric medicines coming into force on 15 February 2014 which also makes clear that use of any colouring agent must be justified.
	The new European guidance(1) has been placed in the Library.
	(1)( )Guideline on pharmaceutical development of medicines for paediatric use
	(EMA/CHMP/QWP/805880/2012 Rev. 2)
	www.ema.europa.eu/docs/en_GB/document_library/Scientific_guideline/2013/07/WC500147002.pdf

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Birmingham

John Hemming: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department spends through Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust on the detection and treatment of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/ME; and what proportion of such funding is spent in each parliamentary constituency in Birmingham.

Norman Lamb: The information requested is not held centrally. Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) commission services for chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalopathy.
	The information may be available from the National Health Service Birmingham South Central CCG.

Compulsorily Detained Mental Patients

Karen Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many patients in (a) each English region, (b) Wales and (c) each mental health trust area in London were subject to a section under the Mental Health Act 1983 in each of the last five years;
	(2)  what proportion of psychiatric in-patient beds were occupied by people sectioned under the Mental Health Act 1983 in each of the last three years.

Norman Lamb: The information requested, in so far as is relates to England, is set out in the following table:
	
		
			 Total number of patients subject to the Mental Health Act 1983 detained in hospital on 31 March, by strategic health authority (SHA, from 2007-08 to 2011-12 
			 Number 
			 SHA 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 
			 North East 994 843 826 1,103 1,176 
			 North West 2,326 2,320 2,629 2,539 2,652 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 1,052 997 1,216 1,143 1,268 
			 East Midlands 1,242 1,753 1,728 1,723 1,885 
			 West Midlands 1,282 1,235 1,342 1,284 1,454 
			 East of England 1,151 1,385 1,363 1,391 1,490 
			 London 3,457 3,569 3,528 3,588 3,639 
			 South East Coast 695 795 856 847 905 
			 South Central 893 817 897 952 952 
			 South West 960 943 940 895 991 
			 Null(1) 1,129 1,416 1,297 1,182 1,091 
			       
			 Total 15,181 16,073 16,622 16,647 17,503 
			 (1) Data from those trusts which could not be mapped to a strategic health authority. 
		
	
	
		
			 Total number of patients subject to the Mental Health Act 1983 detained in hospital in each mental health trust area in London, in each of the last five years 
			 Number 
			  2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 
			 Enfield Primary Care Trust (PCT) (1)— (1)— (1)— 7 0 
			 Haringey PCT (1)— 0 0 0 0 
			 Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust 0 0 0 0 (1)— 
			 North Middlesex Hospital University NHS Trust 0 0 0 0 (1)— 
			 North East London NHS Foundation Trust 144 122 100 121 132 
			 Kingston Hospital NHS Trust (1)— 0 0 0 0 
			 Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust (1)— 0 0 0 0 
			 King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 0 23 0 0 0 
			 The Whittington Hospital NHS Trust (1)— 0 0 0 (1)— 
			 West London Mental Health NHS Trust 661 645 632 666 618 
			 Barts and The London NHS Trust 0 0 (1)— (1)— (1)— 
			 Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust 406 278 269 233 241 
			 Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 0 (1)— 0 0 (1)— 
			 South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust 308 418 496 235 263 
			 Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust 332 336 322 297 315 
			 University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (1)— (1)— (1)— 0 20 
			 Central and North West London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 350 386 435 716 801 
			 South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust 392 369 358 428 382 
			 East London NHS Foundation Trust 399 399 476 430 420 
			 Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust 170 (1)— 174 161 132 
			 Independent hospitals 286 (1)— 264 (1)— 306 
			       
			 Total 3,457 3,569 3,528 3,588 3,639 
			 (1) In order to prevent disclosure, where the figure is five or lower, all values for that provider in that year have been suppressed. Notes: 1. The HSCIC does not collect information about the Mental Health Act 1983 in Wales. 2. The HSCIC does not collect information about the number of psychiatric in-patient beds that were occupied by people sectioned under the Mental Health Act 1983. Source: KP 90, Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC).

Dementia

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when his Department's dementia toolkit will be published.

Norman Lamb: The Department has commissioned the Royal College of General Practitioners (GPs) to develop a Dementia Roadmap Toolkit which will provide a 'one stop' navigational aid for GPs which describes what GPs should do at different points during a person's journey through dementia and provides a single point of information which sets out what wider support, services are available for people with dementia, their families and carers.
	The Dementia Toolkit is expected to be published in May 2014.

Dental Services

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in (a) Ribble Valley constituency, (b) Lancashire and (c) the UK have been registered with NHS dentists in each of the last five years.

Jane Ellison: This data is not held in the format requested.
	Under the existing dental contract, patients do not register to receive national health service dental care. The Government intends to replace the existing contract with one based on registration, capitation and quality.
	Access to dentistry is measured through the number of patients seen by an NHS dentist over a 24-month period.
	Information at England and NHS England area team level is published quarterly by the Health and Social Care Information Centre. Information is not collated at constituency or county level.
	The latest data covers the period ending 17 September 2013 and shows that at England level access to NHS dental services has increased by over 1.3 million since May 2010.

Donors: Health Education

Glyn Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Education on the issue of organ donation and transplantation.

Jane Ellison: There have been no specific discussions between the Secretary of State for Health and Secretary of State for Education on the issue of organ donation and transplantation.
	NHS Blood and Transplant's organ donation strategy Taking Organ Transplantation to 2020 published in July 2013 highlights the need to improve consent rates. Implementation plans are being finalised, including information for teachers and educating school age children about organ donation and transplantation.

Drugs: Rehabilitation

Meg Munn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of drug treatment clients with parental responsibility who are prescribed opioid substitution therapy receive their treatment by (a) supervised consumption, (b) daily pick-up and  (c) weekly pick-up regimes.

Jane Ellison: These data are not collected centrally, and we are not aware if and where they are collected.

Drugs: Rehabilitation

Meg Munn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many drug treatment clients who are prescribed opioid substitution therapy also have parental responsibility.

Jane Ellison: In 2011-12, 60,596 adults in drug treatment in England were recorded as having parental responsibilities, an opiate problem and were receiving a prescribing intervention as part of their treatment programme. This figure includes parents living with own children and those who are not living with their children. There were 5,193 who were recorded as having an opiate problem and who were receiving a prescribing intervention but for whom their parental status was not recorded.

Health Visitors

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of progress to date towards the Coalition Agreement Commitment in the provision of 4,200 more health visitors.

Jane Ellison: The latest figures (July 2013)1 show that 1,011 of the additional 4,200 extra full-time equivalent (FTE) health visitors required by April 2015 are in posts. In total there are 9,103 FTE in post in England. This is two FTE health visitors below the indicative work force trajectory, therefore representing good progress towards meeting the Coalition's commitment. The next significant increase in the workforce is expected in the next few months as health visiting students complete training and move into the work force.
	A progress report on the Health Visitor Programme is due to be published in November 2013 on the Department's website.
	Published as the health visitor minimum data set 22 October 2013 by the Health and Social Care Information Centre.

Health Visitors

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to encourage NHS trusts to employ more health visitors.

Jane Ellison: NHS England is responsible for delivering the 4,200 increase in the health visitor work force as part of its section 7A agreement with the Secretary of State for Health.
	Each NHS England area team has agreed a trajectory to deliver its share of the extra 4,200 health visitors by April 201. Area teams closely performance manage their local providers in the delivery of their contracted trajectory agreed through the national service specification and accompanying reporting mechanisms. Area teams use a range of mechanisms, including contractual levers, to ensure that the health visitor vacancies they are funding in their providers are filled promptly. Monthly progress figures, published in the health visitor minimum data set, are used by NHS England to make key lines of inquiry, requiring any area team failing to meet its trajectory to detail the actions being taken to ensure that delivery is brought back on course.

Hospitals: Waiting Lists

Bob Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS patients in (a) Coventry, (b) the West Midlands and (c) England waited longer than 18 weeks for treatment in (i) 2011-12, (ii) 2012-13 and (iii) the latest period for which figures are available.

Jane Ellison: The information requested is shown in the following tables:
	
		
			 Table 1: Admitted patients who started treatment requiring an admission to hospital who waited longer than 18 weeks 
			  2011-12 2012-13 April 2013 to August 2013(1) 
			 Coventry(2) 2,066 1,249 1,093 
			 West Midlands(3) 35,429 27,895 13,014 
			 England 331,932 271,662 123,359 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 2: Non-admitted patients who started treatment that did not require admission who waited longer than 18 weeks 
			  2011-12 2012-13 April 2013 to August 2013(1) 
			 Coventry(2) 1,787 1,070 643 
			 West Midlands(3) 30,210 24,386 9,650 
			 England 279,319 250,975 113,293 
			 (1) The latest available Referral to Treatment data are for August 2013. (2) For 2011-12 and 2012-13 this reflects the number of patients where Coventry Teaching Primary Care Trust was the responsible commissioner. For 2013-14 this represents the number of patients in NHS Coventry and Rugby Clinical Commissioning Group and therefore is not directly comparable. (3) For 2011-12 and 2012-13 this reflects the numbers of patients in West Midlands Strategic Health Authority. For 2013-14 this represents the number of patients in Birmingham and the Black Country Area Team; Shropshire and Staffordshire Area Team; and Arden, Herefordshire and Worcestershire Area Team and therefore is not directly comparable. Note: Data are collected monthly. Source. Monthly Referral to Treatment data, NHS England: www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/rtt-waiting-times/

Kernicterus

Harriett Baldwin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many incidents of kernicterus have been reported to NHS England in each NHS acute hospital trust in England in each of the last five years.

Norman Lamb: Because of the small numbers involved it is not possible to give the data for individual trusts without the risk of identifying individual cases. The table gives the number of finished consultant episodes (FCE) in England where the primary, or secondary diagnosis was Kernicterus.
	
		
			 Activity in English NHS Hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector 
			 Number 
			  Finished consultant episodes 
			 2007-08 38 
			 2008-09 32 
			 2009-10 34 
			 2010-11 43 
			 2011-12 40 
			 Note: A finished consultant episode (FCE) is a continuous period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one health care provider. FCEs are counted against the year in which they end. Figures do not represent the number of different patients, as a person may have more than one episode of care within the same stay in hospital or in different stays in the same year. Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Health and Social Care Information Centre.

Maternity Services

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of regional variations in standards of post-natal care; and what steps he is taking to ensure consistently high levels of care.

Norman Lamb: It is for the national health service to review the provision of postnatal care locally and enhance services where appropriate. To assist in the commissioning and provision of consistent care, the Department asked the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to develop quality standards on postnatal care which were published in July 2013.
	We have made improving women and their families' experience of maternity services an area of improvement for the NHS. From 1 October 2013 every woman is able to give feedback on the quality of the maternity care they receive through the Friends and Family Test. In addition, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) is conducting a survey of women's experience of maternity services, including postnatal care. Maternity service providers and clinical commissioning groups will wish to use the results from the Friends and Family Test and the CQC survey to identify areas where further action is needed to improve services.
	Helping commissioners to reduce unwarranted variation in service delivery is one of the key roles of Maternity and Children Strategic Clinical Networks, which are being established and supported by NHS England.

Mental Health Services

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have had to wait more than (a) 28 days, (b) six months and (c) one year for treatment under the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme in the last five years.

Norman Lamb: We do not collect the data in the format requested. However, what data we do collect on waiting times for Improving Access to Psychological Therapy (IAPT) Services are provided in the following table:
	
		
			 Number of patients waiting for improving access to psychological therapies for 28 days or more: Quarter 3 2008-09—Quarter 1 2013-14 
			  Quarter Number 
			 2008-09 Q3 9,650 
			  Q4 12,458 
			 2009-10 Q1 13,671 
			  Q2 15,040 
			  Q3 60,525 
			  Q4 66,429 
			 2010-11 Ql 71,938 
			  Q2 67,089 
			  Q3 67,903 
			  Q4 69,373 
			 2011-12 Q1 88,693 
			  Q2 79,579 
			  Q3 83,184 
			  Q4 96,530 
			 2012-13 Q1 119,534 
			  Q2 112,307 
		
	
	
		
			  Q3 112,785 
			  Q4 115,039 
			 Source: Improving Access to Psychological Therapies Key Performance Indicator, NHS England. 
		
	
	We believe the increase in the number of patients waiting for 28-days or more reflects an increase in the demand for IAPT services and an increase in the overall number of people accessing those services.
	The IAPT programme has monitored waiting times since roll-out of its first wave sites in 2008. Measurement of waiting times is complicated by various factors, including local processes, information technology system capabilities and patient choice. IAPT has refined as processes and systems for collecting data have become embedded in services. This is reflected in its guidance over recent years in an attempt to improve accuracy and consistent measurement across services. For this reason the figures from 2008 can not be viewed as a complete time, series and definitions have changed over this period.
	Additionally, the mechanism for collecting IAPT data was changed for Q1 2013-14. There are some data quality problems with the most recent published figures, which we are seeking to resolve as a matter of urgency.

Mental Health Services

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what real-terms expenditure on adult mental health services has been in each year since 1997-98.

Norman Lamb: The Department does not hold the information in the format requested.
	The figures in the following table represent information for mental health expenditure for children, adolescents and the adult population. It is taken from the published NHS (England) Summarised Accounts (1997-98 to 2010-11) and the Department of Health Annual Report and Accounts (2011-12 and 2011-13). It is not possible to separately identify the amount of expenditure on mental illness relating to adults from these data. These figures represent the expenditure made by commissioners for secondary health care, in relation to mental illness.
	This is in the context that primary care trusts are responsible for commissioning health care from providers based on the needs of their local population. The disclosure in the accounts does not separately identify primary care spend on mental health, and is not included in the figures.
	
		
			  Purchase of secondary health care: mental illness (£000) 
			 1997-98 2,767,036 
			 1998-99 2,925,934 
			 1999-2000 3,132,982 
			 2000-01 3,915,950 
			 2001-02 4,196,330 
			 2002-03 4,571,651 
			 2003-04 5,179,510 
			 2004-05 5,623,108 
			 2005-06 6,422,017 
			 2006-07 6,578,788 
			 2007-08 7,190,505 
		
	
	
		
			 2008-09 7,824,071 
			 2009-10 8,076,983 
			 2010-11 8,373,632 
			 2011-12 8,608,022 
			 2012-13 8,796,005

Mental Health Services: Staff

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what recent assessment he has made of staffing levels at places of safety in England as defined by the Mental Health Act 1983;
	(2)  what assessment his Department has made of staffing levels at places of safety in England as defined by the Mental Health Act 1983 for each year since 1997-98.

Norman Lamb: The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has committed to reviewing all health based places of safety in England by March 2014 to ascertain the availability of health-based places of safety on a 24-hour basis. The review will gather information on location, staffing and capacity.
	The CQC has started a thematic review of emergency mental health care. CQC inspectors will focus on people's experience of using mental health services and how their needs are met, including access to health-based places of safety.

Neurology

Laura Sandys: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many full-time equivalent specialist nurses for a neurological condition, as defined under Diseases of the nervous system in the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems 10th Revision, were active in each (a) primary care trust and (b) clinical commissioning group in each of the last five years for which data is available;
	(2)  what assessment his Department has made of the prevalence of neurological conditions, as defined under diseases of the nervous system in the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems 10th Revision;
	(3)  what assessment his Department has made of (a) the economic and (b) societal cost of neurological conditions, as defined in the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems 10th Revision.

Norman Lamb: The annual workforce census held by the Health and Social Care Information Centre does not capture the level of detail required. Information on the number of specialist nurses for a neurological condition active in each primary care trust and clinical commissioning group in each of the last five years is not available.
	In a recent House of Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report, the prevalence of neurological conditions; excluding migraine, was estimated at 2 million people in the United Kingdom, including Parkinson's disease, motor neurone disease and multiple sclerosis. ("Services for people with neurological disorders", published 16 March 2012).
	It is problematic to reach a more precise estimate, as the Health and Social Care Information Centre, only measures Hospital Episode Statistics. This data shows hospital episodes with neurological conditions as the diagnosis, not wider prevalence, as there will be people not admitted to hospital with these conditions.
	The published data does show hospital admissions within a financial year for all primary diagnoses of ICD10 codes G00-G99 (neurological conditions). The data are available in full at:
	www.hscic.gov.uk/searchcatalogue?productid=9161&q=title%3a%22Hospital +Episode+Statistics%2c+Admitted+patient+care+-+England%22&sort=Relevance8tsize=108tpage=l#top
	The PAC report "Services for people with neurological disorders", placed health spending on neurological conditions at £2.9 billion in 2009-10. Spending on social services for people with neurological conditions was an estimated £2.4 billion in 2009-10, and has remained flat since 2005-06.
	There are no data available as to the overall societal cost of neurological conditions.

NHS: Fees and Charges

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he intends to take to ensure that the Government's strategy for recovering NHS costs from those not entitled to free NHS treatment is compatible with its strategies for (a) opposing female genital mutilation and (b) ending violence against women and girls.

Jane Ellison: The Department has confirmed that certain groups of people will continue to be exempt from charges for national health service treatment on humanitarian grounds, including refugees, asylum seekers and victims of human trafficking, and is currently considering if any further exemption from charge categories are justified. This will be confirmed shortly when the Department responds to the recent consultation Sustaining services, ensuring fairness—A consultation on migrant access and their financial contribution to NHS provision in England.
	As is the case now, where a patient is chargeable for NHS treatment, no one in need of immediately necessary or urgent treatment will have that withheld or delayed, even if they have not paid in advance.

Obesity: Children

Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 2 July 2013, Official Report, column 548W, on obesity, what age bracket contains the least active children; and what assessment he has made of how Change4Life clubs target and work with such children.

Jane Ellison: The Health Survey for Survey for England (2008) reports that the proportion of girls who meet the UK chief medical officers' (CMOS') recommendations for physical activity generally declines with age, ranging from 35% at age two to 12% at age 14. There is a less consistent pattern with boys. The lowest level of boys achieving physical activity guidelines is reported at age 13 (27%).
	Change4Life Sports Clubs have been designed to engage the least active children at both primary and secondary schools; to encourage confidence, skills and enjoyment of sport and being active that will help physical activity levels to remain high and not decline with age. The programme is independently evaluated by Canterbury and Christchurch University—Sport, Physical Education and Activity Research Centre. The published evaluation reports that the Change4Life clubs effectively target and engage the least active children (those hot achieving the UK CMOs' Physical Activity Guidelines).

Organs: Donors

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what discussions officials of his Department have had with officials of the Department for Education and education departments in devolved administrations on incorporating organ donation and transplantation into schools curricula.

Jane Ellison: There have been no specific discussions about incorporating organ donation and transplantation into school curriculum between officials from the Department and from the Department for Education and education departments in devolved administrations. However, NHS Blood and Transplant's organ donation strategy “Taking Organ Transplantation to 2020”, published in July 2013, highlights the need to improve consent rates. Implementation plans are being finalised, including information for teachers and educating school age children about organ donation and transplantation.

Organs: Donors

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when NHS Blood and Transplant and his Department plan to conduct a public survey on support for organ donation.

Jane Ellison: The development of NHS Blood and Transplant's (NHSBT) United Kingdom strategy “Taking Organ Transplantation to 2020” published in July 2013 included the use of online surveys and extensive stakeholder and public engagement. Implementation of the strategy will include action to promote a shift in behaviour to increase consent rates. Progress will be tested through regular public surveys.
	NHSBT has recently commissioned independent public research on organ donation, addressing key areas such as attitudes and behaviours, motivations and barriers, and attitudes towards consent. This research has helped NHSBT understand the views of the public in more depth and will continue to be important to inform communication. The research will be published early next year.

Organs: Donors

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when NHS Blood and Transplant plans to sponsor a systematic review of the current evidence base on consent for organ donation.

Jane Ellison: NHS Blood and Transplant publishes an annual Organ Donation and Transplantation Activity Report that provides evidence of consent rates for organ donation throughout the United Kingdom. This will be used to monitor progress and inform future work to improve consent to organ donation.
	The 2012-13 Activity report can be viewed at:
	www.organdonation.nhs.uk/statistics/transplant_activity_report/

Organs: Donors

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when NHS Blood and Transplant and his Department plan to publish a national strategy to promote a shift in behaviour to increase consent for deceased organ donation.

Jane Ellison: NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) published a new strategy “Taking Organ Transplantation to 2020” in July 2013. This builds on the successful implementation of the Organ Donation Taskforce recommended actions published in 2008 and the 50% increase in organ donation and 30% improvement in transplant rates over the last five years. A Strategy Oversight Group will monitor implementation and progress achieved in increasing donation and transplant rates still further.
	NHSBT has also recently developed training tools for all consultants working in intensive care units, and all specialist organ donation nurses across the United Kingdom, to support the approach to families of potential organ donors and improve overall consent rates.

Warm Homes Healthy People Fund

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 11 September 2013, Official Report, column 716W, on Warm Homes Healthy People Fund, if he will make a comparative assessment of the effectiveness of the delivery of the ring-fenced funding and the Warm Homes Healthy People Fund.

Jane Ellison: An assessment of the 2012-13 Warm Homes Healthy People Fund was published on 25 October(1). Local authorities' public health responsibilities include prevention of excess winter deaths and injuries. These responsibilities are supported by a ring-fenced grant budget, revised to £5.46 billion over two years (2013-15). Conditions have been set for the ring-fenced public health grant. These include proposals for local authority reporting on public health expenditure on a quarterly basis with detailed reporting at the end of the year. A comparative assessment of these very different approaches is not being considered.
	(1) www.gov.uk/government/news/warm-home-fund-helped-vulnerable -residents

DEFENCE

Aerospace Industry

Ben Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence who is responsible for the inspection and enforcement of list X sites and security safeguards within UK-based aerospace companies.

Francis Maude: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Cabinet Office.
	Government contractors who handle classified material must meet the standards of protection described in the Cabinet Office's Security Policy Framework. This includes all sites that handle ‘Confidential’ material or above, which are designated “List X” facilities. It is the responsibility of the relevant HMG contracting authority to ensure the appropriate controls are in place and maintained.

Armed Forces: Employment

Simon Hart: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 15 October 2013, Official Report, column 634W, on Armed Forces: employment, how many armed forces personnel have taken part in the Career Transition Partnership in the last 24 months; what proportion of such people are in full time employment; and what steps his Department takes to assess the success of this scheme and the length of time taken to find work.

Anna Soubry: The number of armed forces personnel who have left service and taken part in the Career Transition Partnership (CTP) programme over the last 24 months to the end of the first quarter of 2012-13 is some 20,800. Over this 24 month period some 85% of former CTP participants found employment within six months of leaving service. Evidence provided by service leavers indicates that the resettlement provision is consistently to a high standard and that the services they provide do assist with a successful transition to civilian life. More detail on the data can be found on the Defence Statistics website at the following link:
	http://www.dasa.mod.uk/publications/health/veterans/career-transition-partnership/financial-year-2012-13-q1/2009-to-2010-and-2012-to-2013-q1.pdf

Armed Forces; Sexual Offences

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will provide details of the numbers of criminal convictions that have resulted from rape and sexual crimes against military personnel by other military personnel in the armed forces for each year since 2010.

Anna Soubry: I will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.
	Substantive answer from Anna Soubry to Kevan Jones:
	In my answer of 21 October 2013 (Official Report, column 15W) I promised to write in response to your question on the number of criminal convictions that have resulted from rape and sexual crimes against military personnel by other military personnel in each year since 2010.
	Sexual crimes is not a classification used by the Department and is therefore considered for this purpose to include sexual assaults or assault by penetration. The following table shows the number of rapes and sexual assaults against military personnel by other military personnel in each year since 2010.
	
		
			 Year Criminal convictions for rape Criminal convictions for sexual assault or assault by penetration 
			 2010 0 11 
			 2011 1 16 
			 2012 2 14 
			 2013 (to 30 September) 1 8 
		
	
	The figures shown against each year represent the year the conviction took place.

Army: Germany

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 16 October 2013, Official Report, column 740W, on army: Germany, what additional expenditure his Department incurred in providing basing for these additional units at (a) Dalton Barracks, Abingdon, (b) Kendrew Barracks, Cottesmore and (c) Imjin Barracks, Gloucester, by category of expenditure.

Andrew Murrison: It will take time to gather this information, I will write to the hon. Member.

Defence: International Cooperation

Bob Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent progress he has made on improving and increasing defence interoperability with the UK's (a) NATO allies and (b) non-NATO partners.

Andrew Murrison: The UK continues to play a central role in improving Alliance interoperability. For example, we are: leading five of NATO's Smart Defence projects, which are open to Allies and Partners (Maritime Surveillance; Counter Rocket, Artillery and Mortar fire; Immersive Training Environments; Theatre Opening Capability; and Defensive Aids Suite); participating in NATO's Connected Forces Initiative, which, through exercises such as Live Exercise 2015 to which the UK has committed significant forces, will practice Alliance interoperability; continuing to participate in the NATO Response Force, as we have done throughout 2013, which drives Allied and, where appropriate, Partner interoperability; putting a greater emphasis on NATO's defence planning outcomes; using NATO doctrine as our general default position; and continuing to make a significant contribution to NATO standardisation activities, an important cornerstone of interoperability. The UK is also engaged in other initiatives that will have interoperability benefits, including: the UK-inspired Northern Group which brings 12 northern European Allies and Partners together; the UK's emerging Joint Expeditionary Force concept which envisages our forces training and operating with a small group of close nations; and the UK/France Combined Joint Expeditionary Force being developed under the Lancaster House Treaty.

Defence: Procurement

Peter Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what progress has been made on implementation of the White Paper, National Security Through Technology, published in February 2012, Cm 8278.

Andrew Murrison: Good progress has been made implementing the ‘National Security through Technology’ White Paper. Its approach to open procurement, protection of the UK's technology advantage and consideration of exportability forms part of the Acquisition Operating Framework and Defence Science and Technology Laboratory are developing tools and guidance to help practitioners apply the concepts of technology advantage and exportability. We have published our forward 10-year equipment and support plan. Our science and technology priorities are more transparent and we are maintaining science and technology spending at 1.2% of the Defence budget. An action plan is in place to encourage small- and medium-sized enterprises to fulfil their potential in responding to Defence requirements, and the Under-Secretary of State for Defence, my hon. Friend the Member for Ludlow (Mr Dunne), continues to chair the Ministry of Defence's (MOD) SME Forum.
	The White Paper's commitment to support responsible defence exports is underpinned by the new DG Exports post, which is responsible for ensuring coherence and injecting pace in MOD's contribution to many key Defence export campaigns. Deputy Chief of Defence Staff Military Capability also has an open-door policy for industry to discuss exportability requirements with the military capability community.
	Boeing, Saab, Rockwell Collins and L-3 Communications have subscribed to the Defence and Security Industrial Engagement Policy in its first year, and two additional companies indicated at DSEI that they plan to do so.
	The MOD also supports the Defence Growth Partnership in its vision for a strong, vibrant and competitive defence sector delivering battle-winning capabilities for the UK Armed Forces, our Allies and defence partners around the world.
	The Home Office has made good progress implementing the security aspects of National Security through Technology. It has established the Security Exports Board to oversee its programme and appointed a Director for Security Industry Engagement. Work is under way in conjunction with industry to develop a UK security brand, and to introduce a security and resilience growth partnership to support innovation and growth in the domestic and international markets.

Legal Costs

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department spent on external lawyers' fees in the last year for which figures are available.

Anna Soubry: Fully comprehensive figures are not held in precisely the format requested but are in the order of £28 million for financial year 2012-13, which includes expenditure with the Treasury Solicitor's Department, counsel and commercial legal work. The figure includes transactional property work for the Defence Infrastructure Organisation but does not include any external legal work commissioned by the single service legal branches or by the Service Prosecuting Authority, or miscellaneous expenditure such as (for example) the use of external patent attorneys or advice sought in foreign jurisdictions.

Nuclear Submarines

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 16 October 2013 on nuclear submarines, Official Report, column 743W, on what dates the power failure incidents occurred; what the rating was for each incident on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale; which submarines were involved in each incident; and if he will place in the Library the lessons learned review conducted for each incident.

Philip Dunne: Details of the four events involving the loss of electrical power to a nuclear submarine's reactor cooling systems, when in port, are provided in the following table:
	
		
			 Date of event Submarine Port International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale 
			 14 October 1996 HMS Spartan Her Majesty's Naval Base (HMNB) Clyde Below scale 
			 15 October 1997 HMS Splendid Rosyth Dockyard Below scale 
			 8 May 2004 HMS Torbay HMNB Devonport Below scale 
			 10 November 2005 HMS Sceptre HMNB Clyde Below scale 
		
	
	All of the events were rated as ‘below scale; on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES), because they had no safety significance when assessed against the criteria for rating events on the INES. I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 16 October 2013, Official Report, columns 742-43W, nuclear submarines have a diverse range of reactor cooling systems, including a dedicated system that is not dependent on electrical supplies.
	I am withholding placing the reports into the Library of the House as their release would prejudice the capability, effectiveness and security of the armed forces.

Staff

Naomi Long: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether a member of staff of his Department at grade PTO.1 had the authority to change the place of work of a member of staff at grade PTO.111 in 1983.

Anna Soubry: In the period in question the career management of civilian Ministry of Defence personnel, including matters of work force mobility, was conducted through civilian personnel management authorities (CPMA). In the example given the PTO1 would likely be involved in formulating any proposal for the PTO3 to change their workplace, but the authority to execute that would have been through a CPMA.

Written Questions: Government Responses

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he intends to answer parliamentary question number 162512 tabled by the hon. Member for Hammersmith on 26 June 2013 for answer on 1 July 2013.

Anna Soubry: I replied to the hon. Member today.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

House of Lords: Reform

Iain McKenzie: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what his plans are for reforming the House of Lords.

Greg Clark: The coalition remains committed to an elected House of Lords with a reduced number of members.
	However, in the absence of wider reform there are some changes that the Government is willing to support, as it made clear by giving its backing to the hon. Member for North Warwickshire (Dan Byles)’s Private Members Bill House of Lords Reform (No.2) during the second reading debate on 18 October 2013.

CABINET OFFICE

Cybercrime

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office which Minister currently has responsibility for cybersecurity.

Francis Maude: I refer the hon. Member to my answer given to my hon. Friend the Member for Montgomeryshire (Glyn Davies) during Cabinet Office orals on 4 September 2013, Official Report, column 303.

Low Pay

Ian Lucas: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will estimate how many (a) men and (b) women in (i) full-time employment, (ii) part-time employment and (iii) self-employment in each parliamentary constituency earned less than the rate defined by the Living Wage Foundation as a living wage in (A) 2012 and (B) 2013 to date.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Glen Watson, dated October 2013
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will estimate how many (a) men and (b) women in (i) full-time employment, (ii) part-time employment and (iii) self-employment in each parliamentary constituency earned less than the rate defined by the Living Wage Foundation as a living wage in (A) 2012 and (B) 2013 to date. (172878).
	I refer the honourable member to the answer provided for PQ 171543 published in Hansard on 22 October. I have copied it below for ease of reference.
	The Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), carried out in April each year, is the most comprehensive source of earnings information in the United Kingdom. The ASHE does not collect information about self-employed workers. Hourly levels of earnings are estimated from ASHE, and are provided for employees on adult rates of pay, whose earnings for the survey pay period were not affected by absence. It is not possible to estimate the number of people with earnings below specified thresholds, though it is possible to estimate the corresponding proportion of employee jobs.
	In April 2012, the latest period for which results are available, the Living Wage rates suggested by the Living Wage Foundation were £8.30 for employees who worked in London and £7.20 for employees who did not work in London. A table showing estimates of the proportion of employee jobs with hourly earnings below the living wage proposed by the Living Wage foundation for each parliamentary constituency in the UK will be placed in the Library of the House.

Part-time Employment: Wales

Ian Lucas: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what recent estimate he has made of the number of people in part-time work who are seeking full-time employment in each parliamentary constituency in Wales.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Glen Watson, dated October 2013
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking for the number of people in part-time work who are seeking full-time employment in each parliamentary constituency in Wales. (172886)
	Employment statistics for local areas are calculated from the Annual Population Survey (APS). This would provide information on the number of people who have stated that they are working part-time because they could not find a full-time job. However, this does not necessarily show that they actively sought full-time work during the period in question. Unfortunately, due to small sample sizes, the requested estimates are not available for parliamentary constituencies.
	While not available for parliamentary constituencies, information is available for each of the regions and countries of Great Britain in Table 3 of each region's Headline Indicators reference tables in the latest Regional Labour Market Statistical Bulletin at
	http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/subnational-labour/regional-labour-market-statistics/october-2013/stb-regional-labour-market-october2013.html
	National and local area estimates for many labour market statistics, including employment, unemployment and claimant count are available on the NOMIS website at
	http://www.nomisweb.co.uk

Pay

Ian Lucas: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will estimate the median wage in real terms of those people in (a) work or self-employment, (b) employed for 35 hours or more per week, (c) part-time employment and (d) self-employment in each (i) local authority area and (ii) parliamentary constituency in each of the last five years.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Joe Grice, dated October 2013
	In the absence of the Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking for an estimate of the median wage in real terms of those people in (a) work or self-employment, (b) employed for 35 hours or more per week, (c) part-time employment and (d) self-employment in each (i) local authority area and (ii) parliamentary constituency in each of the last five years. (172880).
	I refer the right honourable member to the answer provided for PQ 171562 published in Hansard on 22 October 2013. This is copied below for ease of reference.
	The Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), carried out in April each year, is the most comprehensive source of earnings information in the United Kingdom. Weekly levels of earnings are estimated from ASHE, and are provided for employees on adult rates of pay, whose earnings for the survey pay period were not affected by absence. ASHE does not cover the self-employed. It is not possible at this time to. produce estimates in respect of employees who work 35 hours or more per week, but it is possible to provide estimates for all full-time employees.
	Tables showing estimates of median gross weekly earnings in each UK parliamentary constituency and local authority area from 2008 to 2012, are the latest period for which results are available. Figures are provided for full-time employees, part-time employees and all employees and are given separately in cash terms and in 2012 prices. A copy of the tables will be placed in the Library of the House.

Voluntary Work: Young People

Philip Hollobone: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many young people from Northamptonshire have taken part in the National Citizen Service to date.

Nick Hurd: Around 600 young people took part in National Citizen Service in Northamptonshire in 2012 and 2013. Autumn programmes are being delivered in Northamptonshire this half-term and more places will be available in spring, summer and autumn next year for 16 and 17-year-olds.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Exercise: Young Offender Institutions

Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 2 July 2013, Official Report, column 613, on exercise: young offender institutions, what changes in (a) participation levels and (b) crime rates her Department noted as a result of Sport England-funded projects which work directly with young offenders and young offenders' institutions since 2011.

Helen Grant: Since 2012, over 400 young people have been engaged in projects which are part of 'Get on Track'—a targeted Sport England-funded programme working with young offenders and those at risk of offending. Monitoring and evaluation conducted since April 2012 show that of those young people who completed the programme:
	After three months:
	78% were taking part regularly in sport; and
	70% were in education, employment and/or training (EET).
	After six months:
	75% were taking part regularly in sport; and
	81% were in EET.
	After one year:
	94% were taking part regularly in sport.(1)
	We do not hold any information on crime rates.
	(1) Figures are not yet available for the percentage of this group in EET.

Mobile Phones: Barrow in Furness

John Woodcock: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate she has made of the proportion of households in Barrow and Furness constituency which have (a) 3G network coverage and (b) 3G network coverage by more than one network provider.

Edward Vaizey: Data on coverage by constituency is not held by either Government or Ofcom. Officials have consulted Ofcom, who are able to provide data covering the county of Cumbria (unitary authority area). According to that data, 94.9% of premises get 3G coverage, from at least one network provider, and 89.2% of premises get coverage from at least two network providers.

Public Libraries: Voluntary Work

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate she has made of the number of volunteer libraries in the country.

Edward Vaizey: The specific information requested is not held centrally, however research by locality indicates that at December 2012 there were 254 community libraries operating in England, details of which are available at:
	http://libraries.communityknowledgehub.org.uk/resource/community-libraries-england-and-wales-december-2012

Sports: Museums and Galleries

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make it her policy to create an Olympic and Sporting Museum to (a) preserve the artefacts of the nation's Olympic and sporting history and (b) serve as an educational destination and resource for schools and the public; and if she will make a statement.

Helen Grant: The British Olympic Association is considering opportunities for mobile displays of Olympic and Paralympic memorabilia that would move around the country, visiting venues such as existing museums, sports events and schools.
	The Thomas Hetherwick-designed cauldron and its components have been acquired by the Museum of London with the approval of the Minister for Sport and Tourism and the Mayor of London and will be exhibited there in due course. The Museum of London also holds one of the Olympic Torches and other artefacts, including an Olympic Volunteer's uniform.
	The London Legacy Development Corporation have the Olympic Bell and this will be displayed in the Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Asbestos: Insurance

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the performance of insurance companies in resolving cases of asbestos liability claims.

Michael Penning: DWP has introduced a Bill to establish the Diffuse Mesothelioma Payment scheme, which will make payments to mesothelioma sufferers in cases where a liable employer or insurer cannot be traced. The scheme will be funded by a levy on Employer Liability insurers.
	The Mesothelioma Bill also contains powers to establish a Technical Committee which would make binding decisions in disputes between an EL insurer and a person with diffuse mesothelioma, about whether the insurer was providing EL cover to a particular employer at the time the person was negligently exposed to asbestos. This will ensure consistency across the insurance industry in the decisions on liability in EL mesothelioma claims.
	The Financial Conduct Authority has also introduced measures to improve tracing of insurance policies in the future. Although this does not address the issues that have given rise to the Mesothelioma Bill it does mean that in the future individuals and employers should be able to trace liable insurers.

Employment and Support Allowance

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  what the classifications of primary health conditions recorded for claimants of employment and support allowance are;
	(2)  what information sources are drawn on in determining which primary health condition should be recorded for each claimant of employment and support allowance.

Michael Penning: The information requested for International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, codes used in the publication of employment and support allowance (ESA) data are shown in the following table:
	
		
			  Condition/Codes 
			 0 Claimants without any diagnosis code on the system 
			 1 Certain Infectious and Parasitic Diseases (A00-B99) 
			 2 Neoplasms (C00-D48) 
			 3 Diseases of the Blood and Blood forming organs and certain diseases involving the immune mechanism (D50-D89) 
			 4 Endocrine, Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases (E00-E90) 
			 5 Mental and Behavioural Disorders (F00-F99) 
			 6 Diseases of the Nervous System (G00-G99) 
			 7 Diseases of the Eye and Adnexa (H00-H59) 
			 8 Diseases of the Ear and Mastoid Process (H60-H95) 
			 9 Diseases of the Circulatory System (I00-I99) 
			 10 Diseases of the Respiratory System (J00-J99) 
			 11 Diseases of the Digestive System (K00-K93) 
			 12 Diseases of the Skin and Subcutaneous System (L00-L99) 
			 13 Diseases of the Musculoskeletal system and Connective Tissue (M00-M99) 
			 14 Diseases of the Genitourinary System (N00-N99) 
			 15 Pregnancy, Childbirth and the Puerperium (O00-O99) 
			 16 Certain Conditions Originating in the Perinatal Period (P00-P96) 
			 17 Congenital Malformations, Deformations and Chromasomal Abnormalities (Q00-Q99) 
			 18 Symptoms, Signs and Abnormal Clinical and Laboratory findings, not elsewhere classified (R00-R99) 
			 19 Injury, Poisoning and certain other consequences of external causes (S00-U22) 
			 20 Factors influencing Health Status and Contact with Health Services (Z00-Z99) 
		
	
	ICD (disease) code causes of incapacity are based on the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, published by the World Health Organisation. Medical condition is based on evidence provided at the start of the claim, this in itself does not confer entitlement to ESA and may not represent a claimants most recent medical condition.
	When the claimant makes a claim for ESA the contact centre records any health condition information that the claimant provides. The claimant then sends in evidence of incapacity, which will often include a fit note. This information is used to update the medical information that we hold. The health condition information is updated again if it changes during the course of the claim, sources of information could include further medical evidence, the health care professional report or the claimant informing the Department. Changes could include a change of diagnosis or identification of additional health conditions. Two primary health conditions and up to 10 secondary health conditions can be recorded on the system for each claimant.
	Statistics on ESA claimants by ICD disease code can be found at:
	http://tabulation-tool.dwp.gov.uk/100pc/esa/icdgp/payment_type/a_carate_r_icdgp_c_payment_type_feb13.html
	Guidance for users is available at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-tabulation-tool-guidance

Food Banks

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 10 October 2013, Official Report, column 405W, on food banks, if he will publish the updated guidance issued to Jobcentre Plus staff on signposting people to food banks.

Esther McVey: To reflect changes to Local Welfare Provision in April 2013, guidance was updated accordingly. It is not common practice in DWP to publish internal guidance.

Housing Benefit

Therese Coffey: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions which 21 councils will receive a share of £5 million of extra discretionary housing payment for sparsely populated areas; and how much each such council will receive.

Steve Webb: This year, in addition to the original Government contribution and the extra £5 million for sparsely populated areas, local authorities are able to bid for funding from a £20 million reserve fund. The scheme is open to bids until 3 February 2014.
	The 21 Councils which received a share of the £5 million of extra discretionary housing payment for sparsely populated areas and how much they received as part of the £5 million are as follows:
	
		
			 Local authority Additional amount (£) 
			 Eilean Siar 66,930 
			 Highland 734,995 
			 Argyll and Bute 252,313 
			 Shetland Islands 46,748 
			 Orkney Islands 37,071 
			 Dumfries and Galloway 488,177 
			 Eden 133,104 
			 Scottish Borders 322,067 
			 Powys 357,870 
			 Perth and Kinross 361,018 
			 Ryedale 157,746 
			 Aberdeenshire 412,173 
			 Moray 180,923 
			 Richmondshire 104,640 
			 Stirling 272,576 
			 Ceredigion 161,542 
			 West Devon 79,143 
			 Craven 110,926 
			 Gwynedd 363,788 
			 West Somerset 81,850 
			 Angus 274,401 
		
	
	Further information can be found in Housing Benefit Bulletin U4/2013 and Subsidy Circular S6/2013 which can be accessed through the following links:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/226996/u4-2013.pdf
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/236635/s6-2013.pdf

Housing Benefit: Wales

Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what payments were made from the discretionary housing payment budget to each local authority in Wales; what proportion of the overall discretionary housing payment budget such payments to each local authority represent; and what level of such payments has been allocated to each local authority in 2013-14.

Steve Webb: The last year for which we currently have details of expenditure is 2012-13. The first table shows the Government contribution towards discretionary housing payments made available to each local authority in Wales, and their expenditure against that contribution.
	The second table details the Government contribution towards discretionary housing payments that is available to each local authority in Wales for 2013-14.
	This year, in addition to the original Government contribution, local authorities in Wales are able to bid for funding from a £20 million reserve fund. The scheme is open to bids until 3 February 2014.
	
		
			 2012-13 Government contribution towards discretionary housing payments and total expenditure 
			 Welsh local authorities 2012-13 Government contribution, including permitted carry-over from 2011-12 (£) Total expenditure 2012-13 (£) Percentage spent against 2012-13 allocation (%) 
			 Blaenau Gwent 49,846 58,839 118 
			 Bridgend 127,320 97,831 77 
			 Caerphilly 72,471 74,586 103 
			 Cardiff 485,508 482,145 99 
			 Carmarthenshire 142,913 111,338 78 
			 Ceredigion 117,674 119,491 102 
			 Conwy 170,642 102,786 60 
			 Denbighshire 109,524 99,701 91 
			 Flintshire 120,008 109,071 91 
			 Gwynedd 150,474 157,444 105 
			 Isle of Anglesey 73,538 47,898 65 
			 Merthyr Tydfil 41,617 11,750 28 
			 Monmouthshire 43,585 108,963 250 
			 Neath Port Talbot 130,358 104,372 80 
			 Newport 136,620 131,033 96 
			 Pembrokeshire 116,040 56,810 49 
			 Powys 61,596 56,016 91 
			 Rhondda Cynon Taf 192,334 148,123 77 
			 Swansea 217,609 217,608 100 
			 Torfaen 56,709 112,509 198 
			 Vale of Glamorgan 125,899 88,739 70 
			 Wrexham 57,538 57,313 100 
		
	
	
		
			 2013-14 Government contribution towards discretionary housing payments 
			 Welsh local authorities £ 
			 Blaenau Gwent 160,251 
			 Bridgend 279,100 
			 Caerphilly 292,597 
			 Cardiff 1,102,669 
			 Carmarthenshire 280,840 
			 Ceredigion 324,933 
			 Conwy 242,700 
		
	
	
		
			 Denbighshire 217,194 
			 Flintshire 242,119 
			 Gwynedd 605,141 
			 Isle of Anglesey 136,536 
			 Merthyr Tydfil 124,556 
			 Monmouthshire 121,978 
			 Neath Port Talbot 318,083 
			 Newport 343,870 
			 Pembrokeshire 193,940 
			 Powys 512,845 
			 Rhondda Cynon Taf 451,301 
			 Swansea 474,871 
			 Torfaen 193,584 
			 Vale of Glamorgan 219,639 
			 Wrexham 198,082

Jobseeker's Allowance

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what comparative assessment he has made of the effect on the relative health of claimants and their dependants of changes to the jobseeker's allowance sanction regime introduced in October 2012.

Esther McVey: A specific assessment of this kind has not yet been made. We are however evaluating all the changes and certain safeguards continue to apply, such as the requirements on claimant's are reasonable and tailored to their circumstances, calling/visiting vulnerable claimants and making hardship payments.

Social Security Benefits

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what performance targets he has established for speed of processing and payment of (a) income support, (b) housing benefit, (c) employment and support allowance and (d) jobseeker's allowance.

Esther McVey: The performance targets are:
	(a) 90% of income support claims processed within 13 days
	(c) 85% of employment and support allowance claims processed within 16 days
	(d) 90% of jobseeker’s allowance claims processed within 16 days.
	Please note DWP is not responsible for the processing of housing benefit.

Unemployment

Andrew McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps his Department is taking to tackle unemployment among those people who are without work but not currently claiming jobseeker's allowance.

Esther McVey: Job Centre Plus delivers back to work support to claimants across all working age benefits—jobseekers allowance (JSA), employment and support allowance (ESA), incapacity benefit (IB), income support (IS) and universal credit (UC), through a flexible model that focuses on outcomes and personalised support.
	The JCP offer consists of:
	Mandatory work focused interviews,—which must be undertaken (JSA, ESA and UC claimants, lone parents on IS, partners of claimants on income related benefits and carers on IS)
	Flexible interventions—the adviser will determine the frequency, duration and content by assessing the support the claimants needs, and
	Access to a flexible menu of back to work support, including the flexible support fund
	Jobcentre Plus advisers are able to offer claimants a comprehensive menu of help including volunteering opportunities, skills support and work experience. This will vary from district to district depending on the needs of the local labour market.
	Advisers work with each claimant to judge which interventions will help them move into employment, at the most appropriate point in a claim, tailoring this to individual need.
	In addition Work Choice provides specialist disability employment support for disabled people who face the most complex barriers to find and stay in work and ultimately help them progress into unsupported employment, where it is appropriate for the individual. It is available to all eligible and suitable working age people, regardless of whether they claim benefit or which benefit they claim.
	The Work Programme provides additional tailored support to those at risk of long term unemployment. Providers are free to design support based on individual and local need. IS and IB claimants can volunteer to participate at any time, ESA claimants can volunteer to participate following their work capability assessment and participation becomes mandatory for ESA claimants closer to being fit for work.

Work Programme

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  if he intends to issue a report on the deliberations of the Work Programme best practice group; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  how many times the Work Programme best practice group has met since 24 April 2013.

Esther McVey: The Work Programme best practice group will issue its final advice to me in spring 2014, although it may make recommendations on an ad hoc basis in the meantime. It has not yet been decided whether a report will be published.
	So far there have been 11 meetings of the Work Programme: Building Best practice group and sub-groups (the main group has met twice, and the sub-groups have met nine times).

HOUSE OF COMMONS COMMISSION

Energy

George Galloway: To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, representing the House of Commons Commission 
	(1)  which company provides energy to the parliamentary estate.
	(2)  what the annual energy bill is for the parliamentary estate; what steps the Commission takes to find the cheapest energy supplier; and what recent consideration the Commission has given to changing the energy supplier to the estate.

John Thurso: Natural gas supplies are provided by Corona Energy and electricity supplies are provided by British Gas Trading Ltd and EDF Energy.
	The energy costs for the parliamentary estate for the last five financial years were:
	
		
			  £ million 
			 2008-09 3.743 
			 2009-10 3.986 
			 2010-11 4.107 
			 2011-12 4.353 
			 2012-13 4.653 
		
	
	It is not possible to provide a breakdown of the energy consumption between the two Houses.
	The House Authorities use the Government Procurement Service (GPS) framework to provide energy suppliers. This is a competitively tendered process. The House policy is to use public sector frameworks where these are available as they have tested the market and greatly reduce the time taken and resource incurred by the House.
	The Commission has not recently considered changing the energy supplier to the Estate as the House Authorities use the public sector frameworks to identify energy suppliers. In order for the House to change its suppliers it would first need to give six months' notice to the GPS that it was terminating the use of their framework service.